The Music of Our Hearts
by Enigmaforum
Summary: A talent discovered, a relationship started, a new begining for two people who thought that loving something other than music was impossible. ShanexMitchie
1. Discovered and in Awe

**Summary: A talent discovered, a relationship started, a new beginning for two people who thought that loving something other than music was impossible. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Camp Rock or its characters, they belong to Disney. Don't own 'This Is Me' either, that belongs to Disney, or Hollywood records I think. **

**AN: Now, I hate to bore you with a very long authors note but I feel that I must explain some things about this story first. The idea came about when I was watching my new Camp Rock dvd a few days ago and I've been writing ever since. This is basically like a "what if" situation and the idea's probably been played with before but this is my take on it. This is a "what if"..Shane had walked in on Mitchie singing that much sooner, what if he had caught her? Would it have changed the entire story? Well for this story the answer is yes. So, this is a chaptered story, probably centered on the rest of Camp Rock and a little after. **

**And to those of you who read this story earlier, I apologize for deleting it but I was having some major technical problems. I emailed it to myself because I finished editing on another computer and things happened from there. Sorry and please excuse the earlier mistakes because they were so not intentional. **

**Take note: The song in here is in italics, just to warn you.**

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_Stupid fan girls_, he thought to himself as he raced around the corner, trying to escape the screaming group of hormonal girls now chasing him. The only thing that he'd been looking forward to in this godforsaken place had been the fact that he'd be escaping the fan girls, and now he couldn't even do that because they seemed to be everywhere he went. Of course, he shouldn't be all that surprised; he was a member of one of the most popular bands in America. His fans were everywhere, even at a stupid Camp that was a virtual hell. Honestly, he didn't have an attitude problem, he just hated people who didn't know what he wanted. He hated people who didn't listen to his ideas. He really loved playing music, but he just hated the baggage that the record label was forcing down his throat.

In reality, all three of them hated it; it was just Nate and Jason were better at containing their feelings then he was. They justified that they got to live their dreams, got to play music, and they got to have a life that most people dreamed about, so everything else was a small price to pay. And he'd agreed for awhile, until recently. Things had happened and he had finally lashed out, and it had landed him at Camp Rock, someplace he wished he was far, far away from right now.

At one point in his life, he'd loved this place and what it offered: a refuge, a place where other people loved music as much as he did, a place where people didn't think he was weird for loving music. Camp Rock had been the only place that he'd had real friends. He'd loved it here but that love ended the second he'd gotten discovered with Nate and Jason. It was then that they'd all seen the true colors of people at Camp Rock. Suddenly, everyone wanted to know the newest 'discovery' to be made by the industry, and they wanted an in with them. The people who he'd once gotten along with either wanted something or turned on him because he got what they dreamt about.

That had hurt him and the guys more than any of them ever cared to talk about again but Nate and Jason once again trumped him in the "letting it go" department. They were able to see past the bad and look at all the good that had happened here. Here is where Connect Three had met and formed, here is where each of them had found a brother in the other, here had once been a second home to all three of them. The problem was, Shane just couldn't forget all the bad, even if the good outweighed it all.

He guessed that Nate and Jason thought that he needed to finally come to terms with everything that had happened here and that was why he was at the camp. He knew they'd been the ones to suggest Camp Rock to the label, despite their constant denials about it and he was already plotting his revenge. It would involve feathers, glue, and lots of laughter.

Just as he began chuckling over the plan forming in his head, he felt himself being ripped out of his thoughts just as his body was being thrown forward straight into the bushes. He cursed himself for not paying attention to the boundaries of the bushes as he fell forward and landed quite painfully on his knees. Almost immediately, he went to straighten himself out, but stopped. The fangirls had paused; they couldn't see him, and he could hide here until they left. Now that was a plan he liked a lot. Who knew tripping could do so much for someone?

He relaxed just slightly against the building, his eyes never leaving the girls in front of him. They were scanning the grounds near and far, looking almost like rabid dogs out for the kill. It scared him to watch, but it gave him an entirely new appreciation for the bodyguards that almost constantly surrounded Nate, Jason, and himself. He'd have to get them raises or something when he got back to civilization.

His body tensed when one of them looked his way and he immediately crouched down further to avoid being seen and that's when he heard **it. **

_Do you know what it's like, to feel so in the dark?_

Everything was soft at first: the music, piano by the sounds of it, and the voice accompanying it; no, correction, the voice standing out from it, everything was so soft. If his ears weren't so sharp from the hours of training, he would have missed it and for once he was thankful for all the training that Connect Three was still forced to endure because it meant he could hear this.

_To dream about a life, where you're the shining star,_

_Even though it seems like it's to far away I have to believe in myself, it's the only way_

The words, the music; it was all reminiscent of the music he used to love playing, the music he wished he could play again. Those things were helping to hold his attention but what was really entrancing him was the voice singing the song. It was the voice of an angel; he was sure because he'd never heard anything so beautiful. It was so pure, so emtional, everything a singing voice should be.

He had to know who the voice belonged to; it was obviously a girl, but he needed more. He had to know more, because if she left and he didn't at least have a name, he would go crazy. At that point, he didn't even care if she wasn't attractive. That voice was just too beautiful to ignore. Slowly, as the music inside the cabin rang out and he made his move just as the fan girls moved away from him, thinking they had seen him off in the distance.

He thanked whatever god was listening for that tiny miracle as he quietly grabbed the doorhandle and pulled the cabin door open, trying to be quiet and not wanting to interrupt the beautiful voice or startle its owner in any way. He made sure to pull the door shut quietly and then he just stood there; watching, listening, and being in awe of the girl sitting at the piano.

_This is real, this is me_

_I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now_

Shane felt his breath catch in his throat as he watched her there. She was absolutely gorgeous and her beauty was only elaborated by the sunlight surrounding her body. His heart jumped at the sight of her sitting there, playing music he loved, the voice of an angel accompnaying it and words that just spoke volumes. Her eyes were closed, her fingers moved effortlessly over the ivory keys before her. This was perfection, watching her and listening to her.

He honestly didn't know what he was feeling. No girl had ever affected him in this way and he hadn't even spoken to her yet. He was supposed to be a Rock Star; cool, calm, and collected, and he was, but her music spoke to him in ways he couldn't describe.

_Gonna let the light, shine on me_

_Now I found, who I am, there's no way to hold it in_

_No more hiding who I want to be_

_This is me_

She stopped playing then, her eyes opening and if Shane didn't know any better, he would swear that he saw the briefest of tears lingering there. He quickly shook those thoughts away. She shouldn't be sad, because she had to know what kind of talent she had. She had a voice that he hadn't heard before from anyone in the business .

She didn't even notice that he was in the room as she glanced down at the piano and gave it the briefest of smiles before moving to close the instrument. He panicked then, because he had to stop her. He had to talk and would talk to her. He was Shane Grey after all, he could do this. At least, he would keep telling himself that as he began to walk slowly toward her.

"Wait." It came out as a choked whisper as he moved into her view. He grimaced at the looks of panic and nervousness he saw there, but it was bound to happen to anyone who'd just been snuck up on.

"Wh-" She began quietly, looking away from him in shyness. He waited for her to say something, not wanting to startle her anymore. She could make the next move here, unless she ran away, and then he would stop her.

"H-how m-much of that d-did you j-just hear?" she asked timidly as she looked up, but not straight at him.

He took a cautious step toward her, and watched her tense for a moment before taking another step towards her. If she was going to run, he would be close enough to catch her before she bolted out the door.

"Most of it, I think. Is there more? I'd love to hear it because you have one hell of a voice," he said quietly, moving even closer. "I'm Shane."

"I k-know," she said, a small blush appearing on her face. He smiled at the pink tint and moved closer.

"Well you know me, but I don't know you. What's your name?"

"N-nothing special," she replied and he almost laughed at that. Nothing special? Is that what she really thought about herself? Well, he'd have to change that one, because she was anything but nothing.

"Really?" he asked and she nodded, making him chuckle. "Well, if you're nothing special, then I'm nothing too, because you aren't nothing. What I just heard was incredible."

"T-thank y-you b-but it wasn't-"

"I don't want to hear you say it wasn't good because it was," he interrupted in a singsong voice. She looked at him then and giggled, a sound that made his heart do flip flops. "So, how about we try this introduction thing again all right?" He asked and she nodded as he moved closer and stood by the piano. He put his hand towards her and smiled again.

"Hi, I'm Shane." To his surprise, she actually reached her own hand out and let him shake it.

"And I'm Mitchie," she said, a small smile appearing on her lips.

"It's nice to meet you," they said in unison, her smiling timidly as he just kept looking at her, both trying to decipher exactly what was happening right then.

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**Well, what did you think? Like it? Love it? Review and let me know. They always make me smile..:) And as always, a huge thank you to my beta and friend, Angel, you rock girlie. Thanks for reading.**

**Chapter 2: Petrified and Kind of liking it...Coming soon!**


	2. Petrified and Kind of Liking It

**Summary: A talent discovered, a relationship started, a new beginning for two people who thought that loving something other than music was impossible. **

**Disclaimer: I would hope that we know the drill by now, I don't own Camp Rock, its characters, the songs from the movie. I just own the idea for this story****. I also don't own the song "Love Bug". That honor goes to the Jonas Brothers, who gave us all one hell of an amazing album didn't they? **

**AN:So, I've decided that this story is probably and most likely going to be in alternating perspectives of Mitchie and Shane. I didn't originally intend this, but, this seems to be the way its heading as I write more and more. So, without any further ado, here is chapter two: Petrified and Kind of Liking It. **

**This wasn't beta checked, so any mistakes are all mine and I apologizein advance! **

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She was terrified. Absolutely and positively terrified. Not because she was at a camp full of incredibly talented performers, not because she was a virtual nothing at this camp. No she wasn't terrified for normal reasons at all, she was terrified because of what had just happened in the mess hall. She'd come out to the cabin to set the tables, but she'd gotten distractedin the middle of her job by rhe beautiful piano within it.

She'd spent a good fifteen minutes staring at it from various points in the room before finally walking over to it, pulling her always present songbook out and sitting down. She'd started playing, thinking that no one would be around to hear her, had gotten lost in the music because that's what she always did. She thought she could get away with playing, singing, and possibly figuring out more of the finer points of this song and go unnoticed. Oh how wrong she'd been. How very, very, very wrong she'd been.

Not only had she been discovered by someone, she had been discovered by Shane Grey, the _**Shane Grey**_ of Connect Three, a band that she liked, a lot. She wasn't exactly a die hard fan but she could safely say that there was a poster of them in her room and a fair amount of their songs 

on her ipod. She thought they were talented and cute. And now she was coming into contact with a member of said band and he was telling her that he had heard her singing and had thought that she was good.

No, correction, he thought that she was amazing and that very thought had her wanting to run for the hills because she honestly didn't think that she was all that good. She knew that she loved to sing, loved to write songs, loved everything to do with music but she didn't really think she was as amazing as he was telling her she was. The very words made her want to blush, she probably already was, she was in the presence of Shane Grey after all.

Actually, she was currently looking up at Shane Grey from her spot at the piano. He was smiling down at her, and she was shocked to find that it was an all genuine kind of smile, that he actually seemed to be really genuine in what he was telling her. He'd scared the hell out of her earlier but now, she was kind of ok with the fact that they were so close to each other. She was most proud of herself for not freaking out on him all that much, at least she hadn't yet, she wasn't planning on it.

Mostly because she was just in shock. The Shane Grey in front of her was acting much differently then anything she could have ever expected. The media painted him to be this arrogant popstar but at the moment he was being nothing but kind to her. Shows you that you can't believe everything on HotTunes about celebrities.

She watched as he leaned closer to her, their hands finally seperating after their very long handshake, if she didn't know any better she'd say that they'd both been prolonging the moment but she quickly banished the thought. Why would Shane Grey of all people want to hold hands with her? They barely knew each other, heck they'd just introdced themselves and now there was 

an awkward silence going on. A silence that someone would have to break eventually. Mitchie wanted to say something to him, really she did, but she just couldn't get the words out. She hated that her shyness was getting the better of her at this point because she really wanted to talk to the nice guy in front of her. But she just couldn't, and thankfully Shane seemed to pick up on her problem and made the move for both of them.

"Soooo…"he began as he moved closer to her, standing almost right next to her, leaning down to make eye contact with her. "Did you write that song yourself?"

She felt herself blushing and gave a brief nod and he smiled right at her. For some odd reason, that smile gave her a bit of confidence, she could talk to him, he was just a person right?

"Y-yeah but it probably wasn't that good," she began her hands almost immediately going towards the bright yellow homemade songbook sitting on the piano. So much for that burst of confidence right? But before she could do anything with that songbook, Shane saw her move and snatched it away from her reach from the current place.

"Hey!" She shrieked as Shane chuckled and backed away as she stood up and went after him.

"I knew you could talk!" He said as he began reading the page before him, laughing as she lunged for him, trying to get her songbook back. She didn't care if he was a popstar that thing was her personal property, the kind that contained some of her most secret feelings and dreams. The kind of things she shared with no one, expressed in a song, and he had no right to be reading it. "Now, watch it, remember I'm a Rock Star and have to have my face kept in perfect condition," he reminded her.

She glared at Shane and went after him anyway. " I don't care what you are. Give that back, it's mine. It's personal, it's-"

"Amazing," he said as he looked up from the page he was reading and stared at her. She could see it in his eyes that he meant it but she didn't know if she could believe it. She'd never shared what he was reading with anyone and now he was getting to see a Mitchie that people rarely got to.

"You're just saying that," she said in a small voice. "They're just-"

"Amazing," he repeated, walking closer to her and holding the book out. "These words, lyrics, they're excellent. They're meaningful, and with your voice and music, they can only be even better. Don't doubt yourself like that-ever. I've never heard anything like your voice." His voice was soft, almost melodious as he spoke to her. She hadn't reached out for the book yet, she wasn't sure that she wanted to because suddenly Mitchie Torres wanted Shane to read that book. She didn't know why but she wanted him to. Wanted him to tell her his thoughts on what was in there, because he knew what he was talking about. And she really just wanted him to talk to her because honestly, she was enjoying this right now.

But just because she wanted that, didn't mean she would voice it. She wasn't that confident, not by a long shot.

"You can say that all you want Pop Star, doesn't mean I'll believe it," she admitted in a small voice, once again cursing her shyness and the lack of confidence she was exuding. He shook his head and moved over to the piano, her book in hand, sitting down at the bench, and placing the book in the holders. Taking a breath his hands moved towards the keys and his fingers set down upon them. He read the music before him quickly and then set off to playing one of **her **songs. 

She stood there speechless for a moment, she hadn't even known he could play a piano, much less read the music to go along with it, but he was doing it and with her material.

She stood there, absolutely frozen by what she was hearing coming from his fingers, and more importantly his mouth because Shane started singing along to the song, one she'd written about a crush she'd had months ago. The only thing he did was substitute the words he with she.

_Called her for the first time yesterday,_

_Finally found the missing part of me,_

_Felt so close, but you were far away,_

_Left me without anything to say_

Before she could stop herself, Mitchie was walking towards the piano, towards Shane's beautiful voice and towards something that she was bound to regret later on. She got there quickly, and like a homing beacon she found herself sitting next to Shane on the piano bench. He kept playing the melody as she did so, looking over to smile at her and nodding towards the music.

"Let go," he whispered. "Just sing."

She smiled and for the first time since meeting him, Mitchie Torres felt truly confident in her abilities to do something. The music was calling to her and she'd never been one to deny it. Taking a deep breath she kept her eyes on Shane and let her voice ring out.

_Now I'm speechless, over the edge, I'm just breathless, _

_I never thought that I'd catch this LOVE BUG again,_

_Hopeless, head over heels, In the moment, I never thought that I'd get hit by this LOVE BUG again_

She wasn't nervous about this, really she wasn't. Music was apart of her, a passion, part of her very soul and she loved doing this. Before this she'd never had someone to share it with but here with Shane, it felt like he understood exactly what she was feeling.

And he conveyed that when he started adding his voice in with hers, his eyes trained on the page before him as she did just as he'd asked, let go. She launched into the chorus once more and this time Shane was with her, and when she heard his voice mixing with hers she almost had a heartattack. They had a perfect harmony together and she was certain that there were sparks and fireworks going off in her mind and heart as they did this. She wondered if he felt the same thing as they sang together.

_Now I'm speechless, over the edge, I'm just breathless, _

_I never thought that I'd catch this LOVE BUG again,_

_Hopeless, head over heels, In the moment, I never thought that I'd get hit by this LOVE BUG again_

Shane stopped playing as they ended the last note and looked at her. It was obvious to her that he was just as surprised about how well their voices had fit together, it was almost like a perfect match. They'd just seemed to bounce off the other well and Mitchie found herself elated by what had just happened.

"Wow," she heard Shane utter.

"Wow is right Pop Star," she reiterated. "I've never sang with anyone before," she admitted shyly.

"Neither have I," she heard him confess, and when she gave him a look he laughed, a strong baritone of a laugh that made her grin. "Aside from my bandmates of course. I just never found anyone that, matched me. That was one hell of a song. Reminds me of the music I used to love to play. Nothing like that stupid cookie cutter pop star crap they shove down my throat at the label."

Mitchie looked at him in shock then, not really knowing what to say, so she decided to ask a question first. "Really? I thought you loved your sound, didn't you create it here at Camp Rock?" she asked as he laughed bitterly.

"We had a sound that we created here," he replied. "But the second we got signed the label wanted to change it so we'd be more appealing to our audience. We never really got the chance to develop the sound and we never really fought. We were just so excited that our dreams were coming true. We didn't really do anything about it until recently. Nate and Jason still take all the crap, I, well, I lash out," he confessed, surprising her.

"So, those reports about you are true," she mused allowed before quickly clapping a hand over her mouth, already feeling her face turning bright red as he laughed at her.

"Maybe they are," he teased. "I personally don't see the problem with storming off a set, the label on the other hand does." Mitchie looked at him and laughed at the look on his face, so what if it was true, he wasn't being a jerk to her.

"I wonder why," she said back, a smile forming on her face. "Maybe you should work on the attitude." She felt the smile fade as his face darkened.

"I don't think I have one," he countered. "I'm just sick of what Nate, Jason, and I have to deal with. No on listens to us and it's frustrating."

"Well throwing coffee at your personal assistant and yelling at groupies is not the best way to take that frustration out," she told him, before once again turning red. She'd read about that event online and of course she had to bring it up just as they were really starting to get along.

"It gets things done," he stated quickly. "Enough about me, tell me why in the hell are you hiding that talent in an empty cabin? Why do you think you're no good? Because Mitchie let me tell you, you're so wrong on that front."

"Maybe because I'm a nobody," she said quietly, surprised that she was actually telling him this. But singing with him made her comfortable, it was as if the song had opened a portal into each others minds, souls, and who knew what else. It was odd but it really seemed like they were somehow comfortable with each other even after knowing each other for barely half an hour.

"You're not a nobody." She heard Shane argue and she just shook her head.

"But I am. You wouldn't get it but I am. I don't sing in front of people despite the fact that I love music with my whole heart because I simply don't have people to sing in front of. What you just heard, what we just did, is really the first time I've ever sang in front of anyone," she told him and immediately bit her lip to keep a giggle at bay. Shane's eyes had just gotten wide as saucers at her confession.

"That's hard to believe."

"But it's the truth. I don't really have the opportunity to play my music as much as I want to. But it's a part of me you know? I want to do something with it more than you can possibly know."

"Oh I think I do know." He chuckled and she smiled. "It's like you need to create music because if you don't it physically hurts-"She felt her eyes go wide at his explanation because it was exactly how she felt about it.

"And when you do it's the best feeling in the entire world?" she asked and he nodded vigorously.

"Like you could save the world, fly, do anything in the world as long as you can keep singing, keep playing, just keep the music alive within you."

"Exactly!" She said with a laugh. "I've never had anyone get that before, you're the first to understand."

"And while Nate and Jason may get what I feel, they've never understood what I'm saying when it comes to music. You really get it don't you?" Mitchie smiled and nodded.

"Absolutely," she replied vehemently. "I know."

"So do I." The look he was giving her was making a blush rise on her cheeks. Mitchie was sure that she'd never had anyone look at her like that before, was sure that Shane was the first to spark something in her like this. She honestly had no idea what was happening but she liked it, she liked him, she'd finally found someone who understood about music and it being a life. No, it was more than life, it was indescribable but he got it with her. And she got him. It was weird, they barely knew each other but she felt like she could tell Shane anything and from the looks of it he felt the same way about her. It was strange but she liked it. A good kind of different. She 

wanted to know more about him, wanted more time with him. At the thought of the word time Mitchie froze, time, her mother, dinner, kitchen. She screamed inwardly, she'd forgotten in all the excitement and had left her mother in the kitchen without her help.

"Crap," she said quickly as she stood up, much to Shane's surprise. "I have to go," she said quickly.

"What? Why?" Shane asked, and upon hearing the distress in his voice, she nearly crumbled and sat back down.

"I-I have to go. I left my mom in the kitchen and I have to help her set things up and dinner is soon and I-" She stopped as he interrupted her.

"Wait, why is your mother in the kitchen? Why do you have to go help her?" She groaned, not exactly wanting to explain this to Shane. Truth be told she was worried about the reaction he would have to her being the kitchen help but she'd already told him parts of it. There was no point in lying about the rest.

"My mom is the chef here, they hired her and said I could come to Camp at a discount rate as long as I helped her in the kitchen. It was the only way for my family to afford it because we aren't super rich likes the kids around here," she explained quickly.

She waited for him to say something and when he didn't, she panicked, thinking that her assumptions about him were right. So, she quickly reached for her songbook, grabbed it, and was about to bolt out the door when a hand on her wrist stopped her.

"Now, I know you have to go but really, don't turn into a lightning bolt," he teased.

"Why not?" She asked. "You obviously don't want to be associated with the kitchen help, so I'll leave you alone."

"And you so obviously don't know me," he stated, giving her a slight glare. "And I want you to know me. I want to know you. I like you, think you're nice. And you have an amazing talent. So I want to be associated with you. I want to get to know you Mitchie. So please, don't make an assumption like that again. You gave me a lot of information and I just needed time to process it."

"Oh," she stated in a small voice. Mitchie immediately felt herself blushing again, and that blush only grew as he chuckled.

"That shyness is something we need to work on Mitch. Listen, why don't we meet up later? Talk some more?"

"Where?" she asked, a smile already forming and growing on her face.

"The lake, after you're done helping. I'll be there, don't worry. Now go help your mom."

Mitchie grinned and nodded before rushing off towards the kitchen to help her mother with whatever was left. She couldn't be more excited about meeting Shane later, about getting t know him, this summer was already shaping up to be one of unexpected things. And she was loving it.

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**Well, what did you think? Leave me reviews and let me know! And thank you for the reviews left in the last chapter. **

**Coming soon: Chapter 3: A New Way to Go. **


	3. A New Way to Go

**Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own Camp Rock or anything associated with it. **

**AN: Wow, thanks so much for your kind reviews guys. I really appreciate them and they totally brighten my day when I read them. And I would like to state that Jordin Sparks is definatley one of my heroes for the way she stood up to the host of the VMAs. I won't lapse into my rant again but lets just say that I was not a happy camper. At all. **

**Now on with the story!**

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Shane watched her leave the cabin with a smile on his face, before turning back to the piano and letting his fingers flutter over the white keys just once more as he thought about everything that had just happened. In the course of half an hour he had managed to escape crazy fangirls, had heard one of the most beautiful voices in the world, and had befriended the girl to match said voice. He paused at the last thought, was he really becoming friends with a camper? Yes, she was beautiful, and nice, and talented, and he loved it when she blushed in front of him but were they really becoming friends?

He really didn't know because in reality he only had two friends and they were Nate and Jason. And truth be told; by this point they were more like his brothers because they spent so much time together in the band and outside of it. It was easy to trust them because they were going through this together, they'd been friends since their first year at Camp Rock together. Other than those two he really had a trust issues because of his career. He honestly couldn't tell if people wanted to know him because of the connections he had, or because of the free stuff he and the guys tended to get. No one ever seemed to want to know Shane Grey the person, so why should Mitchie be any different? Why did he find himself suddenly calling her a potential friend?

As he thought about it, he stood up and pushed himself away from the instrument that had just changed his entire outlook on this camp experience. To think, only minutes ago he'd been on the phone with Nate and Jason, demanding to be brought back to civilization. Now, he wasn't sure that he wanted to leave, at least not without getting to know Mitchie some more. Smiling to himself, he quickly walked to the door of the cabin, checked for fangirls, and then left to head to his own cabin. He was suddenly very inspired to write music.

As he walked, he thought more about why Mitchie and he could be friends and he realized that he could probably name a million reasons as to why he thought she was different, why he could easily be her friend. He knew a million seemed like a lot for the short time they'd spent together, but something had happened in this room. He knew she'd had a 'fangirl' moment in the beginning but that was forgiveable because he had scared the hell out of her. He'd gotten her to talk to him, even if it had involved stealing her songbook and reading it. And he was glad he had because her voice, even when yelling at him was melodic and her songs, the little he'd seen, they were something else. Definitely like the music he used to write with Nate and Jason, it was refreshing.

Maybe that was the main reason he liked her so much, she was refreshing in a world full of posers. Yes, she'd been shy beyond all reason at first and she still kind of was, but he attributed that to the fact that he was new to her. She'd opened up after a few minutes of talking, especially when he'd taken that songbook of hers, and then after they'd sung together she'd really started talking. And he was sure that if this friendship thing worked out then they could work on that shyness and that confidence. Mitchie could sing, write songs, and play music. More importantly she could do it well, no more than well, Mitchie was just plain amazing at what she did.

But more importantly, and what made him think they could make this thing work was that Mitchie seemed like an utterly perfect match for him. Singing together had proved that to him, because singing with her had been utter perfection. They'd harmonized perfectly together, synched, and just totally gotten lost in the music with each other, something he'd never even considered doing with someone other than his bandmates.

When he'd stared into her eyes, he'd felt something, like he was seeing into her soul. He felt completely connected with her in the song, in the moment, and he'd liked it becase that connection seemed to be lasting. She'd understood how he felt about music, how he felt about a lot of things and the best part was he understood her. He felt like he could listen to whatever she had to say and she would in turn listen to him. Hell, they'd already tested that theory and he was anxious to test it even more.

It didn't even bother him that she was working in the kitchen because it showed just how dedicated she was the to learning as much as she could. He just couldn't think of a reason to not be a friend, or who knows, maybe more. That song had done more for his heart than he'd ever imagined. He'd felt it spark to life in a way that he'd never experienced before and as much as it scared him, he found that he liked it. A lot.

He stopped thinking the second he realized that he was back at his cabin, he glanced at his watch and saw that it was nearly dinnertime now. So, that had to mean that Mitchie would be done in the kitchens within the next two hours. He knew that he wanted to write music to occupy himself, the only question would be where to write said music. He wanted to be by the lake when Mitchie got there, even if it wouldn't be sometime because there was no way he was missing her. The only problem was trying to not get noticed by fans. That was something he did not want happening tonight.

After a few minutes of debating Shane decided that Mitchie was worth the risk of meeting crazy fans. He quickly got inside the cabin, headed into his closet and changed into jeans, grabbed his jacket, his own songbook, a pencil, and of course guitar. He looked at the clock on the wall and was surprised to find that he'd managed to do all of that in less than fifteen minutes. Smiling to himself, he put his guitar over his shoulder and headed towards the door, only to be stopped by his Uncle Brown coming into the cabin.

"Shane I was wondering if-going out are we?" Brown asked, his accent thick with curiosity. Shane felt himself tense at the question but tried to calm himself down, he didn't need to lash outright before going to see Mitchie.

"Yeah," he responded. "I, well, inspiration calls to me and I want to-"

"Oh really?" Brown asked, a smile on his face. "Well I think someone isn't so unhappy to be here anymore now is he?"

"Maybe not, I'm not saying I like it here yet," Shane said. "I was still forced here without any say of my own."

"You may have been forced here but it was only because you needed it Shane. You're my nephew, I love you, but you need a realitycheck. I'm going to help give it to you," his uncle said seriously.

"I don't….look, I don't feel like fighting with you right now. I'm tired, dirty, and I just want to go out to the lake and play. So please, move and let me go," Shane said quietly, trying to hide the anger in his voice. Brown gave him a look before moving aside and motioning towards the door.

"Fine go, but you'll miss dinner."

"I'll live," Shane stated quickly as he moved towards the door.

"You know Shane, you aren't the guy I used to know." Shane paused at the quiet words that came from his Uncle's mouth.

"You used to be funloving, just lived for the music, and now you're a jerk. You changed man and it's not a good one. What happened?"

Shane wanted to talk to him but he didn't feel like he could trust himself to say the right things. So he said nothing and left the room, and quickly heading towards the lake, wanting to be far away from that cabin and his Uncle in that moment.

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Shane wasn't sure how long he'd been by the lake, he'd stopped looking at his watch a half an hour after he'd gotten there because he didn't feel like torturing himself. So he'd just picked his guitar up and had been playing and writing nonstop since. He liked what he was doing, no scratch that, he loved what he was doing because it was all him. The song he was working on now was exactly the type he and the guys had loved playing before they'd gotten signed and brought back good memories.

He never noticed the girl creeping up on him slowly, a plate in her hands, complete with plastic silverware and a few napkins until she was standing next to him. And even then he didn't notice anything until she said something to him.

"T-that's a new song isn't it?" she asked quietly, and Shane felt himself jump at the sound of her soft voice. He immediately stopped playing and turned to her, a smile already forming on his lips.

"You really need to make yourself known when coming up on a Rock Star," he teased. "I almost had a heartattack and that's a bad thing. Rock Star's like me can't have heartattacks this young. "

"Well excuse me for not wanting to interrupt you," Mitchie remarked as she looked his guitar over. "I know how I am with writing songs, I hate it when anything interrupts me and I thought you'd be the same way."

"Usually I am," he confessed. "But I'll make an exception for you."

She smiled at him and he felt his heart jump as she leaned down to look at what he was writing. He immediately leaned over to cover the writing with his hands and she looked at him with a glare.

"Why do you get to cover your work from me? I didn't get that choice when you stole my songbook," she pouted and he thought it was adorable. How could he say no to the face she was giving him? He couldn't and he could tell that that was going to be a problem in whatever kind of relationship this ended up being.

"Fine, I'll show you," he said, letting out a sigh of defeat. "But only if we go somewhere else. I don't want anyone else to hear this yet."

"Where can we go?" she asked. He grinned at that and quickly moved to put his guitar back in its case, grabbed his jacket and everything else he'd brought with him.

"I know a place. We just have to hike a little alright?" he asked, and she nodded, already giving him a smile as he went to grab her hand, wanting to lead her through the woods. But he stopped as he finally saw the plate currently occuping both of her hands.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Dinner," she replied.

"They don't let you eat with the rest of the campers?" Shane asked incredulously. He listened as she just giggled and shook her head.

"No, I eat with the rest of the camp. This is for you," she replied softly. "I didn't see you at dinner and thought that you'd probably be hungry."

He felt himself smile at her words, touched by the fact that she'd even taken the time to look for him at dinner and truth be told, he was starving and that food looked really good.

"Thanks, I am. How'd you guess?" He asked, and she smiled.

"You're a guy, they're always hungry. I know my cousins eat like the entire house when they're visiting us." Shane laughed before motioning to the forest with his head.

"Come on let's go, its not that bad of a walk, and I want to get there soon. I have food awaiting my very anxious stomach." He smiled when she giggled, he liked making her do that, he made a mental note to keep that up as they headed into the woods and to a place that was only known about by two other people.

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They walked for about ten minutes before Shane finally stopped and looked back to make sure Mitchie was still with him. She was, and her being there also included a look that said 'We'd better be there soon or so help me I will hurt you.'

He chuckled at the look, and kept walking. "Come on," he encouraged her. "It's only another few feet."

"You said that a few feet ago." He heard her muttered and he grinned before finally stopping.

"Well I wasn't lying that time," he responded, turning to her once more. "Now, before I show this to you, I must swear you to secrecy, this place is only known about by three people. Nate, Jason, and myself. It used to be our place to write and play music without anyone around. I'm letting you share it with us. But tell anyone about it and I'll have to kill you," he said in mock seriousness, making her laugh.

"Now, hold your right hand up," he ordered in a low baritone. She did as asked, balancing the plate she held in her left hand. Amusment was all over her expression and giggles kept leaving her mouth as she tried to put a serious look on her face.

"Do you, Mitchie, promise to uphold the secrecy of this place by all that is holy and sacred in the land of music?" He asked.

"I do Mr. Grey," she stated and he grinned before pushing back a few branches and revealing his well kept secret. He heard her gasp but didn't really stop to look at her because the memories of this place quickly washed over him. The place they were currently standing in, was in the middle of the forest, carefully covered by trees and in the middle of this place were a series of boards. It was almost like the leftovers of a deck to a house, but Nate and Jason had nicknamed it 'the raft' ages ago.

This place brought back feelings and memories of a time when they'd all been carefree, writing songs for hours on end or goofing off. This place was really where Connect Three had been born.

"Shane this is just-"

"Amazing?" he interrupted, finally looking at her, grinning at the nod she was throwing his way.

"I know, we found this our first year at Camp Rock and it's been ours ever since. But, I thought I'd share it with you."

"Why?" He knew that was a good question and he knew Nate and Jason would ask him the same question when he told them about it.

"Because," he began. "I thought that you could use a place to be you as much as I do. You need a place to sing, to write, or just get away then this is it. I was thinking that maybe we could, make this our place to come and talk," he said nervously. He was surprised that he was nervous, then again it wasn't everyday you asked a beautiful girl you barely knew to talk to you.

"Could we sing more? I liked singing with you earlier." He smiled at that statement and nodded to her.

"I was hoping you'd say that because I liked singing with you too. A lot."

There was a pause then, both of them just standing there and looking at the other stupidly before his stomach decided to make itself known. He grimaced at the sound and felt himself blushing ever so slightly. Mitchie laughed and looked down at the food in her hands.

"So, about that food.." he began as she just nodded and walked towards the wood, him following and very intent on eating and talking to the mystery that was the girl in front of him.

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**So, what did you think? Let me know in a review pretty please. **

**Oh and I apologize for this but I'm going to plug a new story of mine. It's a new Smitchie oneshot called "Tshirt" and if you could go check that out that'd be just fantastic . I'd love you even more than I already do. **


	4. A Sorta Kinda New Beginning

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Camp Rock or anything associated with it.**

**AN: Wow guys, thanks so much for all your sweet reviews. They totally make me smile. **

**OH and this chapter is totally and utterly dedicated to Demi Lovato. I happen to think she is an insanely and amazingly talented singer, songwriter, musician and actress. Her debut album drops on September 23****rd****!! Which is LESS than a week away! Make sure to go and pick it up because she just rocks and plus the Jonas Brothers are on there-co-writing, co-producing, dueting. Don't Forget..Sept. 23****rd****! **

**And if anyone just got that above reference..I will totally give you a cookie. **

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Mitchie wasn't sure what to make of the situation she was currently in. Here she was, sitting in the middle of the forest, on an old deck with a Pop Star and she wasn't freaking out. She should be, because she and new people didn't really mix all that well together because well, people ignored her. It was the reason she had exactly one friend back home, but here at Camp Rock, things were changing. She'd found that at dinner and the gathering beforehand she could actually talk to people without stuttering all that badly. She could even say that she was starting to become friends with a girl she'd met earlier that day, Caitlyn. They'd eaten dinner together with Lola, Sander, and Barron and she could honestly say that it was one of the best dinners she'd ever had.

There had been laughter and beat boxing done by the boys and somewhere in the middle of it all, Caitlyn had whipped her laptop out and set some sound to it. In the end, the entire mess hall had erupted into a party and Mitchie was a part of it. She'd gotten to dance around and step out of her shell and she'd wondered why she could so easily do it at the time. Now, here in the forest, she knew. Shane was the reason she'd felt more comfortable here. He'd gotten her to open up to him earlier and apparently that confidence had sort of carried through to dinner.

Sort of, because well, she'd had a not so pleasant experience at dinner as well. The kind that had caused her to go shy all over again. What had happened was an encounter with the Camp's resident Queen B, Tess Tyler. The blonde witch had walked past the table just as Mitchie had been getting up to get another drink, and they'd basically collided with each other. Tess had gotten water all over the front of her outfit and basically freaked out on Mitchie, actually Tess had full on bitched her out, calling her an 'incompetent fool' and a whole other host of other not so nice names before walking away, her two lackies glaring at her as she'd stalked out of the cabin.

Mitchie had been left there in the mess hall, with everyone staring at her, blushing and not knowing what to do. So she'd let her shyness take over once again, sitting down and not saying anything for the rest of the meal, even with Caitlyn and everyone else reassuring her that she shouldn't take it seriously. She knew she shouldn't, but Mitchie honestly wasn't the most confident of people and the words had stung more than she'd like to admit. So she'd scarfed down the rest of her food down and then retreated into the kitchens with her mom to hide, though no one else knew that, she'd just claimed being tired from the day. Mitchie wasn't entirely sure she wanted the rest of the campers to know exactly how she'd been able to afford Camp Rock. She had a feeling that people like Caitlyn, Lola, Barron, and Sander wouldn't care, but she just couldn't tell them yet. She didn't know them well enough to trust them.

So she'd spent her time in the kitchen, helping to clean up and of course thinking about everything that day. About Camp itself, about her new apparent enemy in Tess, her potential new friends, and of course the person she was now with, Shane. Thinking had given her time to get excited about being here and of course to get what little confidence she'd had back. A task that wasn't easy but when she'd seen him sitting on the dock earlier, guitar in hand, so lost in the music, she'd felt her heart fluttering. It seemed that the fluttering had helped her get back to where she was earlier in the day, able to talk to him without so much shyness.

It was perplexing to say the least, this confidence he gave her, but she really didn't want to question it because she liked being able to talk to people, liked the possibility of having more than one friend at camp. But most importantly, she loved the idea of being able to talk to Shane more because she wanted to know him. He may be a jerky pop star to the rest of the world but to her he was, well, he was nice. And she liked him for it.

Except now, she wasn't sure if she should like or be afraid of him because the way he was consuming the food in front of him was frightening. She knew she'd said that she'd brought the food because he hadn't been at dinner and that was partly true, she was concerned about him not eating. But in reality she'd brought the food for backup in case they found nothing to talk about here.

Here, she felt herself smiling at the thought of where they were right now, a place she'd never even thought existed around Camp Rock, a place that was obviously special to Shane from the way he'd looked at it, and it was just perfect. The trees around here secluded them from prying eyes, the decrepit old deck served as an amazing place to sit and just look around. She knew that to most people at Camp, like Tess Tyler, this place would be horrible but to her, it was inspiration.

"Is it good?" she asked, watching him wolf down the spaghetti she'd brought him, a grin already spreading on her face. When he looked up from the plate, a sheepish grin on his face, he nodded and swallowed the very large mouthful he'd been trying to process.

"Amazing, thank you. I hadn't realized how hungry I was."

"I can see," she replied, laughing as she looked around the deck and saw his guitar case beside him before looking back up at his face to find him smiling at her.

"Want to hold it?" he asked knowingly. She felt her eyes widen at that and instantly nodded, Mitchie wanted nothing more than to hold the guitar near him because she'd seen it earlier. It was top of the line, newest Gibson acoustic out there and she wanted to hold it, play it, and just be in awe of it because she would certainly never be able to afford it anytime soon. "Well what are you waiting for Mitch? Go on, take it out and play. "

"Really? I can play it?" She felt herself giggling when he just gave her this look before nodding towards the case.

"Yes really. It's the least I can do for you after you brought me this amazing food."

She instantly, eagerly, wonderfully reached for the soft case and pulled it towards her. Opening it quickly and pulling the instrument out and settling it in her hands and lap. She was in awe of its wonderful color and shape, her eyes never leaving its smooth wood as her hands ran over the strings.

"It's amazing."

"I know, like me right?" Shane asked his mouth slightly full of spaghetti. Mitchie looked up and rolled her eyes at him.

"I have yet to pass judgment on your amazement Mr. Grey. This guitar however, pretty much rocks." When Shane laughed, she grinned, and turned her attention back to the guitar in her hands.

"Play something," he commanded and she looked at him once more.

"What?"

"You heard me Mitch, play me something. I want to hear more of your amazing voice."

"Shane," she sighed.

"Mitchie," he sighed back and she felt herself fighting a grin off. She wanted to play the guitar, really she did but she had no idea what to play. Not to mention the fact that she was still nervous about playing any of her material in front of anyone. "I don't know what to play," she tried to argue.

"That sounds like an excuse to me, but fine, you don't have to play anything, yet." Mitchie groaned at the look he gave her, one that said before they left this place she would play something whether she liked it or not.

"You're evil," she muttered and he grinned.

"I know," he sighed again, finally putting his plate down on the deck and staring at her full on. "So, if you won't play me anything, why don't we get to know each other first?"

Mitchie hesitated, suddenly doubting her abilities to be able to hold a conversation with the man before her. She'd come out here with him to do just that right? Get to know him, to find out exactly who Shane Grey was and of course she still wanted to do that. But what if she clammed up in front of him again? What if she couldn't talk?

"That's a b-b," she stopped, trying to calm her racing nerves down.

"Mitchie, I know that the press paints me as a jerk, but you can talk to me. I promise no biting your head off." At his soft words, she felt her shell melting just a little bit. He was right, the press painted him as someone that no one would want to associate with, but he'd been nice to her so far. He'd brought her to this amazing place without hesitation, the least she could do was talk to him. She wanted to know Shane, and she wanted to let him know the real her, the Mitchie that wasn't always a shy wallflower, but a girl who loved music more than life itself.

"Ok," she said, finally allowing herself to look at him. "We can talk, I want to talk. But-"

"But what?" she heard the exasperation in his voice and grinned.

"But I get to keep holding the guitar," she said, reasoning with herself that if things got awkward she'd at least have something familiar in her hands to comfort her. She watched Shane anxiously, hoping that he'd let her keep holding the instrument and to her surprise he was smiling. His eyes spoke volumes, saying that he understood and when he nodded, Mitchie let out a sigh of relief.

"Deal," he said, putting his now empty plate in the grass and leaning back on his hands. "Now you start, tell me about yourself," he prodded.

"What do you want to know?" She asked, still finding it hard to believe that he wanted to know anything at all about you.

"Anything, everything. What your full name is, how old you are, where you live, how long you've been singing, everything," he said, and she giggled, suddenly finding some confidence within herself. She wanted to know Shane and it was only fair that he should know about her.

"Fine, we'll start with the first four questions. My full name is Michelle Maria Torres, but don't you ever call me that in public. I like Mitchie just fine. I'm sixteen. I live in San Francisco, California and according to my mother-I was singing before I could talk," she told him and felt a blush creeping up through her cheeks.

"Why don't you like your real name?" He asked. "I think it's pretty. Really pretty." His words made Mitchie blush again and she found that she liked hearing that word come out of his mouth.

"My abuela used to criticize me with my full name so I took on Mitchie to differentiate between it," she confessed, turning her gaze away from Shane and onto the guitar in her hands.

"Well then you'll be Mitchie or Mitch to me," he replied. "Tell me more."

"Like what?"

"I said it before, everything Mitch. I want to know everything about you."

"Well...alright. You asked for it." And with Shane's guitar in hand Mitchie proceeded to tell Shane exactly what he wanted to know about her, everything.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sometime later, Mitchie Torres could safely say that Shane knew almost every little detail about her life. She'd been talking for what seemed like forever, telling him about her childhood, her life in the suburbs, her favorite things in the world, and of course music. Shane hadn't been 

kidding when he'd said that he'd wanted to know everything about her. When she didn't give him enough information, he grilled her until he was satisfied with what she had to say. Like now, after they'd gotten over the basics he'd started asking her about the songs she wrote and the instruments she played and of course why she's never played in front of anyone before.

"Come on Mitch-why haven't you ever performed in front of people? You've got the talent," he pressed again.

He'd been doing this for the past few minutes, because she honestly didn't want to talk about this part of her life. The part of her world where she only had one friend who mine as well be a part of MENSA, the one where she really was a nobody who was just there to get picked on when the popular girls got bored. Truth be told, Mitchie Torres was terrified of performing in a school talent show because she knew that people would make fun of her, no matter how much talent she had.

"Shane, stop, please, let's talk about something else," she tried once again to change the subject, and once again she failed.

"No, you're avoiding this and I want to know why. You should've been performing in front of people a long time ago with your voice."

"I wanted to perform but it's complicated. School is-I'm a nobody," she said in a small voice, once again drifting off into her shell. "I'm really, really, really a nobody. Shane I have exactly one friend and most of the time we get ignored by everyone. But occasionally those mean girls get bored and make fun of us. I've always been terrified of performing in anything school related because of what they would do to me," she told him, her eyes focusing on the ground, on anything but him.

There was silence between them and that made her nerves grow even more. She fought desperately to keep control over them, tried to keep herself positive, but she was finding that impossible. So she resorted to the one thing that would help keep her sane in all of this; music, her saving grace. The guitar in her hands finally came to use as she let her fingers move over the steel strings, the sounds coming from them soothing her.

She lost herself to the music, no singing involved, just playing a melody to keep her occupied. She never noticed Shane moving closer to her until she felt his hand covering hers on the guitar. Mitchie felt herself jump at the contact, not because she was scared but because well-something happened in that nano second. She had no idea what, but something happened the second his callused hand made contact with hers- she felt something happen between them. It was like a spark, a sign, it was unexplainable but she felt it. Without even thinking about it her gaze shot up to meet his, and she saw that he had to have felt the same thing, whatever it had been. She felt him freeze as they looked at each other; it was as if they were both at a loss as to what to say to the other.

But that silence only lasted for a few moments before Shane seemed to snap out of his daze and moved his hand once more to cover hers. She stopped moving it when he gave hers a light squeeze but didn't say anything.

"Mitch, you don't have to be ashamed by that," he told her. "I know what it's like because that's how things were for me before I came to Camp Rock. I didn't have a lot of friends at my high school and I was pretty invisible too. "

"But you don't seem like the kind of guy who would be invisible," she found herself saying. He laughed at that and shook his head in disbelief.

"But I was, because I loved music and no one understood that. Not even my former friends. So I get where you're coming from. Really," he said, trying to emphasize that he understood, and Mitchie knew he did. The truth in his eyes was hard to deny.

"But understand something; you're in a place where everyone loves music as much as you do this summer. You're not a freak here; you're not a nobody if you don't want to be. You've got a chance to break that shell of yours and be a star because with your talent-you should be. " Mitchie felt herself blushing again at his words, no one had ever said something like that to her before, and coming from Shane's mouth-it seemed to take on even more meaning.

"Thanks Pop Star that means a lot."

"You know," he laughed. "I think you're the only one I've ever let call me that before. Usually I prefer to be called Rock Star but….because I like you, you can call me whatever you want to." She felt herself giggling at that.

"Good because I like calling you Pop Star." He leaned in close to her and Mitchie felt her breathing literally stop for a few moments.

"Just don't do it in public and we'll be fine." His soft words made her nod in agreement, actually it seemed that all Shane would have to do is talk to her like that and she'd agree to what he wanted. That could be a problem in whatever this was becoming but it was one she would think about later.

The two stayed in complete silence for a few moments, but it wasn't awkward silence, it was comfortable. Shane had yet to remove his hand from hers, and Mitchie found that she didn't mind, that his hand was comforting her without even trying.

"And you know what else Mitch?"

"Hmm?"

"You've got more than one friend now. You've got me."

"Good," she replied. "Because I think I can like having you a friend. There's just one little problem."

"And that is?" he asked, his facial features changing into ones of confusion instantly.

"You know almost everything about me and I know next to nothing about you. How is that fair?"

"Hmm," he pretended to think for a moment. "You're right. What do you want to know?"

She laughed and settled herself on the deck, regretfully pulling her hand away from his. She wanted nothing more than to keep their hands in close contact, but she was more curious about getting to know the Shane in front of her.

"Hmm, let's start with the basics. Full name, age, where you're from. Then we can move on to everything else."

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**AN: Thanks for reading and as always leave a review and make me smile. **


	5. Turning the Tables

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Camp Rock in any shape or form and I doubt that I ever will. **

**AN: So I officially love all of you. You make me smile with your reviews, really you do and I thank you for taking the time out to review. Hope you enjoy this chapter, it's been one of my favorites to write thus far. And as always, thanks to my lovely beta-angel! I heart you mucho much my dear. **

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Shane watched as Mitchie settled herself on the raft, looking at him expectantly and for once Shane wasn't feeling like he should be on the defensive. Normally when he was around people, especially ones he didn't know, he put up a wall. He knew that was probably half of what made him a jerk, but he found it necessary because in his experience, most of those people were out to get something. They were either out for information to leak to the tabloids, or they wanted to get in on his fame. He never knew who he could trust, so he got defensive when people asked him personal questions.

Surprisingly with Mitchie, he didn't feel the defensiveness that usually came out. Surprisingly, for the first time in a long time he felt like he could tell her anything. After all, she'd told him almost everything about her life with very little hesitation and even when she'd paused, she'd let him grill her for the answers. It was hours later from when they'd first gotten here and he felt like he knew her inside out. He knew the basics about her of course, but after hours of questioning he knew more than that. He knew that she loved the color red, that her favorite flowers were pink roses, and that she really did have a reason for being so self conscious.

He felt bad that she was a nobody where she came from because he really did believe that she had talent, and hearing her just randomly strum on the guitar had really confirmed that for him. He knew that she'd done it to cope with a hard question, but it was amazing hearing her do it. Not only could the girl before him sing, write amazing songs, and play piano, she could play guitar as well. That was talent, pure talent and Shane was determined to help her crack her shell. He would get her to sing more, and hopefully help her get some confidence. Before he could even start on that, he supposed that he owed her some answers of her own. After all, he'd put her through the ringer with questions; it was only fair that she get to do the same with him.

"Shane, you alright?" He jumped at the sound of her soft voice cutting into his thoughts. He looked up to find her staring at him, concern flashing across her face and he felt his heart race at the look in her eyes. He didn't know exactly what was happening between them but he definitely felt something; especially when he'd touched her hand earlier. That had been a moment where he'd actually felt sparks fly between them; he just didn't know exactly what they represented. All he did know was that she'd definitely felt something too, whatever it was, and it was definitely something. A good something.

"Shane?" Her voice cut through his thoughts again, and this time it sounded more distressed. He looked at her and smiled, trying to calm her down.

"Sorry, got caught up in my thoughts," he told her softly, and his heart leapt when she smiled and smiled.

"It's ok, I do that all the time," she told him and he smiled at the reassurance.

"But let me guess, you still want to get to know me right?" He asked with a grin, thinking that she was adorable when she blushed at the question.

"I'd like to. I mean you know so much about me and I only know about what I read in magazines." Her blush increased at her confession and he laughed.

"So you're a fan of the band then?" He asked the one question he'd forgotten to ask her in all of his earlier questioning. It had really just slipped his mind during the music part of his inquiry to get to know her better.

"I thought it was my turn to ask questions," she grumbled. "But to answer your question-yes I am a fan. Yes, I have Connect 3 songs on my iPod. And I do have a poster of you guys in my room."

"Oh, really?" he asked. "Why is that? I mean I don't see the point in posters of celebrities on walls."

"Because, it's a way to show support and a way to be close to famous people that you're never going to meet. And don't you start feeling all special. You're poster is on my door. Johnny Depp is right by my bed." The smugness of her voice had him laughing loudly and soon she was joining him in that laughter. He grinned at the sound of her laughter: it was so melodic, so soft and sweet, making him love it.

"Ok Pop Star," she said, finally managing to stop her laughter. "How about some answers?" He smiled at the question and nodded, but before he could start telling her anything, he needed something to keep himself occupied, just in case they encountered one of those awkward pauses.

"Sure, but, do you think I can have my guitar back?" he asked softly and she smiled at him and nodded. He loved how he didn't have to explain it to her, that she just seemed to get that he needed the guitar there as a comfort to him in much the same way she had just done. Mitchie sat up and held the guitar out to him, and Shane took it without another word.

He sighed with relief when it was in his hands and situated comfortably in his lap. He smiled when he felt the warmth of Mitchie's hands on the wood and pressed his hands to where hers had just been.

"What did you want to know again?" he asked, looking up at her to find her looking at him with a soft smile on her face. "What?" he asked confused as to why she was smiling.

"It's nothing, you just look so happy when you have the guitar in your hands. And I heard you playing earlier, it was really good. Why don't you play more in the band?"

"Because the label kind of assigned us roles when we were signed. I know how to play guitar but they just like me to stand up front and sing because I'm most comfortable going crazy on stage," he explained. "Nate's the more serious one and Jason just loves rocking out on his guitar."

"Well I'm sure you could go crazy with a guitar in your hands, you should play more." He smiled as she brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

"I'll take that into consideration when I see my bandmates again," he told her and she smiled at him.

"So, before I ask you more about being so famous and music, can I please know the basics? Like your full name, age, where you're from?" He laughed when she giggled and nodded.

"My full name is Shane Michael Grey. I'm eighteen, and I was born in New York but right now I live in Los Angeles with Nate and Jason, though most of my family is still back in New York. "

"I've never been to New York; I've heard it's great."

"It is, when you get used to the craziness of the city that is," he told her with a laugh.

"Tell me more," she said.

"Like what?" he asked and smiled when she gave him a devilish grin, it seemed like Mitchie was finally learning that she could be comfortable around him and he was so glad that it was happening. He wanted her to be comfortable with him because he was already so comfortable with her.

"How about everything?" He laughed when she asked it and nodded.

"You asked for it," he told her in a singsong voice, repeating her earlier phrase and she giggled and settled herself onto the raft.

"I can handle it," she told him. He grinned when she said that and with his guitar in hand and Mitchie beside him providing and encouraging smile, he started to tell her everything about him.

XXXXXXXXXX

It was some time later, in fact it was starting to get dark, but Shane Grey still found himself telling Mitchie everything about himself. He told her about growing up in the suburbs of New York, about living in his family, about his favorite things. He really told her everything and he didn't hesitate to talk more when she asked questions. And to his surprise, Mitchie had asked a lot of questions about his life, especially his family and he really hadn't minded elaborating and talking. After they'd talked about the basics they'd moved onto music, a topic they'd been on for quite some time and once again Shane found that he didn't mind telling her everything.

"I can't believe that you like Paramore as much as I do," she said and he grinned.

"Of course I like them, they've got this great sound and they don't take any crap from anyone," he told her and she nodded.

"You know Shane; I didn't expect us to have such similar tastes in music." He nodded at that, not really expecting them to like almost all the same bands and styles of music, but as he thought about it, he realized that he shouldn't be surprised. After all, she played the kind of music he used to like to play, so why shouldn't they have similar music tastes?

"Is that a bad thing?" he asked and she shook her head.

"No, I like it. Sierra doesn't really listen to music so I have no one to talk to about it."

"Well, talk to me anytime you like Mitch. It's good having another person who likes what I do. I love Nate and Jason like brothers but our musical tastes can definitely be different. "

"You know, you talk about Nate and Jason a lot and I get that you're like brothers but don't you have other friends?"

He tensed at the question; that was one he really wasn't sure he wanted to talk about because it was just so hard to think about. Silence echoed throughout the forest as he tried to think of a way to answer her question. Without even realizing it, his fingers started moving across the strings of the guitar in his hand. He was playing the melody of the song that he'd been working on earlier, soothing himself with the music, and calming his mind down in order to answer her.

He just listened to the music as his fingers moved, his eyes looking away from Mitchie's in the process. He never noticed her tentative movements forward, nor did he notice how close she got to him as he played the guitar. Shane never noticed as Mitchie's hand tentatively reached out towards his until he felt her warm hand covering his own.

He felt the sparks all over again as his eyes snapped up and met hers and he saw that she felt it too; the spark, the life, that special something when their hands touched. She squeezed his moving hand once and he stopped moving it, but she didn't remove her hand and he was grateful. Shane realized what she was trying to do, comfort him as he'd done with her earlier and he smiled.

"Thanks," he whispered.

"Anytime Pop Star. You don't have to tell me you know, I can understand if it hurts too much."

"It's just hard to talk about. Being famous; there is a downside," he started to tell her. "When we got the record deal, Nate, Jason, and I were so happy. Then said record did really well, and again we were happy. But we lost a lot of our old 'friends' along the way: the ones we'd made here at Camp, the ones from our homes because we got what they wanted."

"Oh Shane, I'm-" He silenced her with one look.

"There's more," he said with a sad smile. "When you 'make it', a lot of people just want to use you for what you have access to and what you get. That's what happened to the three of us as a band. We got used to it at first and then well….all three of us kind of shut ourselves off from making friends in the industry. It's too hard to differentiate so we just keep to ourselves and make music."

He smiled at her then. "So, to answer your question, yes, Nate and Jason are my only friends and at this point, I just consider them like my brothers. So I guess that I really don't have any real 'friends'. I just have people that I know. It's easier to not have them."

There was silence after his confession, but Shane found himself alright with that. It was comfortable because Mitchie's hand was on his again, her thumb rubbing the back of his hand. The warmth of her skin seemed to warm him inside as well as out, making the silence bearable.

"I'm sorry." Her soft voice jolted him and he felt confusion wash over him. Why should she be sorry? She hadn't done anything to him.

"Why? You're not doing anything wrong." He watched a blush creep onto her face and he felt himself smiling. He thought it was adorable when she did that, even if the impending darkness was making it harder for him to see it.

"Because-I didn't realize how hard it has to be in the limelight. I thought you guys just loved performing and that it was all glitz and glam. I didn't know it was so hard."

"How could you?" he asked. "No one sees the behind the scenes shit that goes down. You had no way of knowing," he told her softly. "But for the record, we do love performing. We love being able to live our dreams and to make music, we just have to sacrifice some normalcy for it. It's usually not so bad, we don't think about it and I have Nate and Jason. We're a family."

Once again, there was silence, just Mitchie looking at him, the fading sunlight illuminating her body and comforting him in ways that words could not. He'd confessed one of his deepest pains to her, and he knew that he should be panicking because he never talked to anyone about it, but he wasn't. He actually felt alright that Mitchie knew about it. She wasn't trying to dig deeper, not trying to uncover more pain, she was just here for him right now. It was odd; he hadn't been able to have someone just be there for him in years. Of course he had Nate and Jason but with being with Mitchie was different. She was normal, but when he looked into her eyes ,he saw kindness and understanding. It was a comfort and sparked something quite confusing within him. He'd analyze it later, be with Mitchie now.

"Shane?" Her soft voice cut through his thoughts once more and he smiled at her.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

"Mitch-why do you keep saying that? You don't have to be-" He shut himself up when she gave him a look.

"I know that, but sometimes people just need to hear it. I'm sorry that you and Nate and Jason have to deal with so much. That you feel like you can't trust anyone, that you don't have many 'real' friends but-" She paused to take a breath and rubbed her thumb against his skin once more. "I want you to know that you can trust me, that you can talk to me and I'll listen, and I wouldn't betray that trust. I can be your friend-if you want me to be," she added quickly at the end before turning her gaze away from. Though he could barely tell in the rapidly disappearing daylight-he was sure she was blushing.

He was silent for a few seconds, processing what she'd just offered him and what he already knew he wanted. In fact he couldn't remember the last time he'd wanted something this much. Shane Grey wanted to have a friendship with Mitchie Torres because she was not only beautiful on the outside; but on the inside as well. He'd seen into her earlier during their song and he was really starting to know who and what she was about. She got him. How could he not want to have her as his friend? How could he not want more?

"Shane-if you don't want to be friends it's alright. I completely understand. I mean I'm just so normal and I'm not special and you're well-you aren't and-" Shane silenced her with a smile and a quick movement of his hand under hers so that it was now covering her own on the guitar.

"Mitch-I want nothing more than to be friends with you. You're nice, you listen, and I'm sorry for not answering right away. You had me thinking," he explained and he felt her tense hand relax in his. "And I'll keep saying it until you believe this-you are special. You've got amazing talent. You're special."

"I still don't believe you," she told him and he rolled his eyes. Of course she didn't believe him; she lacked confidence that she was going to need to succeed in the music business. He was going to have to help her build that before the summer ended.

"You will soon enough Mitch," he said, confidence in his voice.

"Sure, whatever you say Pop Star," came the retort, making him smile at the obvious eye roll he heard in her voice. "So..friends?" she asked.

"Friends," he said, gently rubbing his thumb across the back of her hand. He felt her shiver against the movement and he frowned. With the sun gone the temperature dropped as the night wore on and it was still reasonably early but he supposed that Mitchie was wearing less than him-so of course she would be cold right now. Without even thinking about it he was handing his guitar over to her once more and shrugging off his now trademark leather jacket.

"Here," Shane said, quickly holding it out to her. "You need it more than I do."

"Shane…"

"Mitchie..take it. Seriously. I'm not cold, you are. Wear it while we're here because I'm taking it back the second we're out of the forest." She laughed at his serious tone of voice and took the jacket being offered. Shane took his guitar back and could make out her figure putting on the all too big jacket.

"Mmm it's warm," she giggled.

"I'm glad; don't need you to freeze out here," he said with a laugh. The two lapsed into a comfortable silence, the darkness shrouding them from the world as they just sat on the decrepit old deck with each other. Shane was perfectly content in the silence, so much so that he started playing random notes on the guitar to add something to the mood.

"Shane.."Mitchie said timidly after a few minutes.

"Yes?" he asked once more.

"Can I ask you another question? Please." He chuckled at her added afterthought and nodded, before quickly realizing that she probably couldn't see him in the darkness.

"Of course."

"What's it like to be on stage? To sing in front of thousands of people? What's it like to live your dream?" She asked quietly and he felt himself smiling softly at the want he heard in her voice. She'd told him that music was her life and he was quite sure that after hearing her earlier that was what she was meant to do. Here she was quietly admitting her dreams to him without even really saying it.

"Amazing," he told her simply. "It's the most amazing feeling in the entire world. I love being able to share music with the world. I love the fans that support all three of us and I just love it Mitchie. It's so hard to describe but I just do. Music is in my blood you know? It's my heart, my soul."

"Your everything?" He smiled at her and edged closer, he wanted her to be able to at least make out his facial expressions in the darkness.

"Exactly. So getting to do it as my life is wonderful," he told her. "Mitch..why did you ask me those questions? Is it because that's what you want to do?"

"Yes," she said in a soft voice. "I said it earlier remember? I want to do something with my music." "

"I remember," he replied. How could he forget their earlier meeting?

"Well I want to do what you do. I want to bring people my music because I just-"

"You want them to connect through it."

"Exactly. But I don't know if I'm good enough," she confessed and Shane was instantly leaning closer to her, his hand lightly squeezing hers along the way.

"You are Mitch. Trust me. You got through my thick head. We just need to get you some confidence and we will. I promise. It's what friends do right? Help each other out?" She giggled and it was music to his ears. He loved hearing her make any sound that equaled joy in his mind.

"Yes, it's what they do. At least that's what I'm told they do. Sierra never really has problems soo-"

"We'll figure it out together then." He said it with confidence and he actually felt like they could. After all if they didn't have much experience in friendship they could learn together. He felt her shift in front of him and was surprised to find her leaning in towards him even more.

"Shane, one more question."

"Shoot."

"What were you playing earlier? I liked it. A lot." Shane felt the blush rise in his cheeks and as much as he wanted to play the song for the beauty in front of him, he couldn't. It wasn't done yet and he wasn't sure what she would think. He didn't want to screw up this friendship thing before they ever had a chance to properly start.

"Can I play it for you some other time? It's still really rough and I want to finish it first and it's getting kinda late so I should probably get you back to Camp," he rambled on, searching desperately for a way out of this situation. He heard her sigh and he almost let out a noise of disapproval when she took her hand from within his.

"You're right, it's getting late. We need to go back," she sounded sad and he hated it. "I was having fun," she said softly as she stood up and held a hand out to him.

"I was too. We can come back again tomorrow if you want," he said quickly as he put his guitar back in its case and gathered his things, taking her hand to stand up when he was done. "Same time? By the Docks?"

"I wouldn't miss it," she said, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the happiness in her voice,

"Come on Mitch, we've gotta head back before it gets too late. Brown will kill me."

"And my mom will be worried sick if I'm not back to our cabin soon. Lead the way Pop Star."

"Take my hand," he said softly. "Don't want to get separated now do we?" he asked, though it was really only a decoy reason. Honestly, Shane just wanted to hold Mitchie's hand all over again and she seemed to have no issues with that. Without hesitation her fingers intertwined with his and he smiled as they set off towards Camp Rock. What had started out as an absolutely horrible day had turned into an amazing one. Shane had a feeling that this summer was bound to be interesting with Mitchie be his side.

XXXXXXXXXX

**So let me know what you think. OH, I'm starting a new project for Camp Rock soon, and I hope you wonderful authors will be interested in taking part in it. I'll have more information soon. Thanks for reading! **


	6. Leading, Following, and an Attitude

**Disclaimer: Oh how I wish I owned Camp Rock, but sadly I don't and I never will.**

**AN: All of you seriously rock. The response to this story so far has already exceeded any expectation I had and you guys just make me smile so much with your constant words of encouragement and support so thank you! **

**Oh and if I could, I would like to dedicate this chapter to MyStateOfMind and her wonderful story 'Believe in Me' because she is just awesome and if you haven't read this story I highly suggest you do, it's worth it. **

XXXXXXXXXX

Mitchie knew that she should be uncomfortable right now. After all it was dark and she was in the forest, anyone in their right mind would be uncomfortable because the entire scene screamed 'Blair Witch remake' to her. But she wasn't uncomfortable, she wasn't scared, in fact she was incredibly content at the moment because she was being led through the dark and creepy forest by Shane. Their hands were touching and he was going slowly, saying that he didn't want her to trip and fall, but she had a feeling that he didn't want to leave just yet and that was alright with her. In fact it was better than just alright with her, because Mitchie wasn't ready to leave yet.

She wasn't ready to go back to the camp where she really didn't know anyone, where she was just the newbie camper, she liked it here. Here with Shane, she'd been able to be herself, had been comfortable, and she didn't feel like a shy wallflower. She was just Mitchie and Shane seemed perfectly alright with the plain old normal girl she was. Actually he seemed more than alright with that fact and he also seemed more than alright with the fact that they were friends.

_Friends_, that thought perplexed her because Mitchie honestly didn't understand exactly how she'd managed to befriend someone much less a famous someone. But to be honest, Mitchie didn't even care that he was famous because now that she knew things about him, knew him personally, Shane Grey wasn't just a Pop Star. No, he was a person, a real person with feelings and emotions, and a person that she was now friends with. It was just weird thinking about the fact that she had more than one friend now, that she could actually talk comfortably with this friend even though she'd only known him a few hours. But Shane was just; he got her. There were no other words for it, Shane Grey understood her in ways that even Sierra didn't get.

Sierra, Mitchie had to smile at the thought of her best friend; they'd been two peas in a pod since grade school, had managed to survive the hell that was middle school, and now they were in the hell that was high school together. Mitchie loved her like a sister, really she did, but when it came to music, Sierra didn't get her passion for it. Sure, she thought it was a good hobby, but she didn't realize that it was basically Mitchie's life. She didn't understand how important it was to her sanity and peace of mind. No, Sierra for all her compassion and brains just couldn't see it but Shane did.

He understood it and Mitchie was starting to think that that was what made her so drawn to him. They understood each other so it wasn't hard to talk to him about things. So far, it was easy being his friend, so far, she wasn't sure how it would work out but she was excited to take the journey.

"You still with me?" Shane's voice cut through Mitchie's thoughts and she finally realized that their pace had slowed down considerably.

"Still here," she promised. "I just got lost in my thoughts for a while there."

"What were you thinking about?"

"Today and how weird it's been," she told him immediately.

"Weird how?" he asked, actually stopping their walk through the forest and turning to look at her.

"That I can talk to you so easily. That I even met you, that we're friends. That I trust you," she listed off and Shane smiled.

"I know right? It's crazy but I feel like I can trust you too. I mean, I just know that you won't go running off to Pop Informer magazine for a tell all. And I like that we're friends," Shane said softly and Mitchie just smiled.

"I would never go to Pop Informer and I like that we're friends too. It's nice to have someone that understands."

The two just stared at each other for a few more moments before Shane gently pulled on her arm to signal that he wanted to keep on moving.

"As much as I don't want to, it's getting darker by the minute so we should get back. After all, as a camper you should get to opening jam and meet new people."

"Will you be there?"

"Are you kidding? No. I don't even want to be at this stupid camp in the first place and I don't want to deal with those crazy fangirls."

"Oh," Mitchie said quietly, not really knowing what to say to his words. She'd heard that he was being forced to come to Camp Rock because of his attitude, one that she hadn't seen until just now. So, maybe those magazines were right, Shane Grey was a jerk, but he was nice to her.

"Why do you hate it here?" She prodded. "I mean, it's where you got your start your roots, you shouldn't hate it."

"I'm being forced to come here Mitchie, that's why. I've had to shower in cold water, not have hair gel, and it's just its bad. Not what I'm used to. The only good thing that's happened since I got here was meeting you."

"I don't think it's that bad," she muttered under her breath, not thinking that Shane would hear it. But alas, he did, and once again he stopped, and Mitchie not expecting it ran right into his back.

She heard Shane grunted once and he quickly turned around but she was already backing away and looking up at him, apologies forming on her lips in seconds.

"I'm s-sorry, you just stopped and-" She stopped talking after one look from Shane.

"Mitch its fine, I should be apologizing to you, like you said, I just stopped, no warning or anything. You alright?"

"Fine," she told him. "Why'd you stop? We have to get back."

"Because I heard what you said and wanted to talk to you about it. How can you say that it's not that bad? I mean we're in the middle of nowhere, there are bugs and cold showers, nothing to do. Why is that ok with you?"

She stared at him for a few moments, trying to process what Shane had jus said. She wondered how he could possibly be saying the things about the place where he'd gotten his start, the place he'd spoken so fondly of back on that 'raft'. She supposed this was that Pop star attitude coming back to the surface, the one she'd hoped she'd never have to see, but she was witnessing it now and she didn't like it. Yes, she was a shy wallflower but that didn't mean she would tolerate someone trashing their roots, especially when she happened to love it here.

"Maybe it's ok with me because this place happens to be one of the best music programs around, because people get noticed here, maybe its ok with me because I happen to love it here," she told him heatedly. "And I would think that you'd still love it here too Shane, the way you talked about it back there made it seem like that. I mean you got your start here, you met your best friends here, but obviously you've forgotten what this place used to be."

"I haven't forgotten Mitchie, it's just different now."

"Different how? Different because you're not a camper anymore? Because you're famous?" She asked, feeling her temper rising as she spoke. Shane had just been so open and honest with her, so nice and now he was being cryptic and acting like the jerk that magazines made him out to be.

"Maybe," he muttered and Mitchie wanted to slap him, really and truly wanted to slap him because he was being ridiculous.

"How can you say that? After everything you just told me about this place? How can you not want to be here?" she asked and then continued on, she didn't want Shane to get a word in until she was done. "Well Shane you obviously have another side to you that I didn't see before and I think I know why you were sent here. You need to get back to your roots, and here is the place to be."

"Mitchie you don't understand," Shane whined and Mitchie though angry, had to admit that the way he was looking at her was adorable, but she couldn't let that phase her. Not when she had to make a point.

"Well then you need to make me understand," she told him. "But I don't think you will Shane because I don't see how you could hate this place. I don't see how you can have that attitude, and let me tell you something mister-if you want to be my friend you will learn to drop that attitude around me. I don't like it and I will call you out on it got it?" She asked heatedly, and she almost started laughing at the surprised look on his face. Mitchie guessed that this was the first time anyone had ever told him anything like this and to be honest she was surprised she was the one doing it. But she knew it had to be done because she really did like him and she really didn't want to screw up this new friendship and if he kept up with that attitude she would most assuredly snap. It wasn't the Shane she was coming to know, it was the one that media painted and she knew that it was fake and Mitchie would not take fake when she was with him.

"Shane, you're not answering me," she said softly, fearing that maybe he was angry with her. "Do you understand?"

"Y-yeah," he stuttered, taken aback by her voice. "No attitude around you, got it," he muttered and she smiled. There was the Shane she was starting to know, the one she liked.

"Good," she told him, her mood instantly picking up.

"But I'm still not going to Opening Jam," he told her vehemently. "I am not dealing with fangirls. I refuse."

"Fine," she sighed. She couldn't make him go to something and he did have a point. She'd heard some of the girls at dinner and they were a little scary when they spoke about Shane.

"You ready to go again?" he asked, and she grinned when he took her hand in his again. Mitchie had to admit; holding hands with Shane was nice, really nice. She just loved the feel of his calloused hand against hers, the way he gently held hers, it made her tingle and she didn't want it to stop. She squeezed his hand in response, nodding as he smiled.

He started walking again, leading her through the forest, and for a few moments there was simple silence. Mitchie just walked along, basking in the warmth of Shane's hand and most importantly his jacket were providing. She loved wearing his jacket because well it was warm and it smelled good. Really good and she wondered if Shane always smelled like this because if that was the case; she could see why his fans wanted to be so close to him.

"Shane?" she asked softly, her curiosity coming back to her again.

"Hmm?"

"What are you going to do?"

"What?"

"During Opening Jam, if you aren't with the camp what will you do?"

"I don't know, I'll probably call the guys, bitch them out, work on the song I was writing earlier," he told her and Mitchie immediately felt herself perk up and she actually took two big steps so that she was now standing beside Shane. She giggled when he looked down at her, eyebrows raised and she squeezed his hand once more.

"What?" she asked slowly. "It started to feel weird talking to your back."

"Sure it did," he told her with a chuckle. "But something tells me that you want to know more about my song too."

"Well the thought may have crossed my mind," she told him innocently, looking up into his eyes, her face shifting into a pout. "But only if you wanted too. I really did love what I heard earlier."

"Well I thank you Ms. Torres but I really don't know what I can tell you about it," he said honestly. "I just started writing it after all, but I will tell you that it's definitely what the guys and I used to write before we got signed."

"Well I can't wait to hear it when you finish it."

"You'll be the first, I promise."

She smiled and once again there was silence between them, but it was comfortable silence, they were just enjoying each other's company until they finally reached the outside of the forest. She sighed as they stopped once more, knowing that this would be where they parted until tomorrow. Mitchie had been having so much fun but she knew that there was no way she'd be able to convince him to come with her to Opening Jam. Shane seemed to read her mind, because not even two seconds after she'd had the thought she heard him talking to her.

"So," he began. "I guess this is-"

"MITCHIE!" Both teenagers jumped at the name being shouted and instantly turned towards the sound. Mitchie smiled when she saw Caitlyn walking towards her. Her new friend walked quickly, reaching the spot she and Shane were currently occupying within seconds. Mitchie frowned when she felt Shane tense next to her, dropping her hand as he stepped away from her.

"God you're a hard person to find. I've been looking for you since after dinner. I wanted to make sure that you were alright after the wicked witch-" Mitchie laughed and held her hand up, trying to save Caitlyn from asking too many questions.

"I'm fine, promise. I just had to clear my head," she explained, glancing at Shane in the process, trying to see if he was alright. That glance wasn't lost on Caitlyn and she too turned her eyes towards him, her eyebrows shooting up in the process as she realized exactly who Mitchie was with.

"Why don't you take a damn picture it'll last longer," Shane spat out, and Mitchie instantly found her hand going out to slap his arm. "OW! What was that for?"

She glared at him as he looked at her, his free hand rubbing the spot that she had just hit. "For being mean, what did I say about that attitude? Be nice, she isn't some stalker fangirl."

"And how do you know?"

"Because I said so," she hissed at him before turning to Caitlyn who was looking at the both of them, amusement clearly written on her face.

"Caitlyn, I'm sorry. Shane is just too paranoid for his own good."

"Riight," Caitlyn said. "And that leads to him being Mr. Jackass right? Because really, I was just looking to make sure you weren't an axe murderer or a rapist," she told Shane with a glare. "Next time why don't you try and introduce yourself nicely? I don't care if you are Shane Grey, manners help."

"She's right Shane," Mitchie said with a giggle, and he glared at her. "Don't you give me that look, apologize to her, now."

"No, she was staring at me."

"And is that a crime?" Caitlyn asked. "I explained myself; you're just being a prick now."

"I have to agree with her," Mitchie said. "Apologize for being mean, she didn't do anything wrong. She's not going to maul you, right Caitlyn?"

"Ew," Caitlyn gave a mock shudder at the thought. "I don't even really listen to your music, why would I maul you?"

"You don't like our music?" Shane asked curiously, his gaze drifting back to Caitlyn who got a look of disgust on her face.

"No, its way to over-produced for my tastes and it's not you guys. I was here the year Connect 3 formed and I just can't bring myself to listen to a sound that's so unoriginal and not yours."

"And what did you say your name was again?"

"I didn't and I won't until I get some form of apology from you," Caitlyn said with a glare and Mitchie laughed as Shane just looked at her.

"You heard her Pop Star, apologize, I'm not helping you out of this one," she told him with a grin, he pouted and she just shook her head and looked at Caitlyn.

"Fine," Shane grumbled. "I'm sorry for being a jackass."

"Awww, I almost tasted the sarcasm on your tongue," Caitlyn remarked. "But I guess that's the best I'll get from you right now. I'm Caitlyn Gellar."

"Gellar, Gellar," Shane rolled the last name over his tongue and Mitchie looked at him oddly as he thought. "What are you here for?"

"Producing," Caitlyn said, staring at Shane as though he had gone crazy and Mitchie was beginning to think he had before he started talking.

"I REMEMBER you! Nate had the biggest crush on you when we went here!" Shane shouted and Mitchie jumped at the excitement in his voice. "All he talked about was your for like months on end, about how cute you were, how nice you were, what kind of style you had. He seriously had it bad for you."

"Really? He never said anything about it," Caitlyn muttered.

"Well Nate was really shy and he wasn't sure how you'd react. It took Jason and me all summer to convince him to talk to you about it, and he was going to after Final Jam but then…" Shane stopped talking after that and Caitlyn nodded.

"I know the rest of the story; you guys got whisked away by the executives at Lava, and became the Pop Superstars you are today. Now, I know why you've been sent back to Camp Shane but it doesn't explain how you know Mitchie. I mean, Mitchie are your parents connected somehow?" Caitlyn asked, turning towards Mitchie.

Mitchie automatically felt a blush creep up on her face as she shook her head, instantly chastising herself for doing so because Caitlyn probably wouldn't be able to distinguish the movements in the darkness.

"N-no, we just met today. He kind of sort of caught me singing in the mess hall when I was setting the tables up."

"Oh, well that explains things, I think," Caitlyn said and Mitchie felt herself blushing all the more. "But why were you setting up the mess hall?"

"Because my mom's the caterer here at Camp, I help out so I can come here at a discounted rate, otherwise I wouldn't be able to afford it," Mitchie confessed in a soft voice. There was silence for a few moments and once again Mitchie found herself fearing that Caitlyn wouldn't like her because of how she'd come here. In fact she was considering running back into the forest but found that thought would be impossible because Shane had once again moved closer to her and took her hand in his.

"I s-should go," Mitchie said, but before she could do anything Caitlyn was in front of her and Mitchie could very well make out the face she was making, one that said 'leave and die'.

"Don't you even think about leaving, and don't you for one second think that I wouldn't like you because of how you come here. I'm not Tess, god I'd want you to like push me down a flight of stairs if I ever became her," Caitlyn said with a shudder and Mitchie laughed. "I'm serious Mitchie. But really, don't think that I care about that. I mean I have to help my parents out with their construction business so I can come here."

"Really?" Mitchie asked. "I thought that most people around here just got to come here because their parents were in the business or rich."

"Well that's the way it is for most people around here and I won't deny the fact that my family is pretty well off but my parents want me to work for things, so I work to come. They say it's about 'teaching me values' or some crap like that," Caitlyn said with a laugh. "But what I'm getting at is how you got here is nothing to be ashamed of because people like Lola, Barron, Sander, and myself aren't going to care. They liked you earlier, said you were a little shy but they like you. I like you too."

Mitchie honestly didn't know what to say to that, she was speechless, but it was in a good way. She'd honestly liked the people she'd sat with at dinner, and she was glad to know that they liked her too. She was glad that Caitlyn liked her because Mitchie saw the possibility of having a real friendship with the girl in front of her.

"We're working on the shy," Shane finally interrupted them and Caitlyn once again glanced at him, and then at their intertwined hands. The blush that Mitchie had felt going away instantly returned at the raised eyebrows Caitlyn was giving her. This time it was she who dropped their hands, not really wanting to draw more attention to herself.

"Well, "Caitlyn began. "I came to make sure you were alright and to see if you wanted to come to Opening Jam with me, Lola's performing and I thought we could go support her together? The Jerk over here can even come," she said with a smirk towards Shane who looked at Caitlyn with a glare.

Mitchie chuckled at their interaction between them and just rolled her eyes as Shane looked at her with a pout.

"Well the Pop Star here won't be going but I'd love to. It's where I was coming anyway."

"Awesome, so why don't we head back? They're going to be starting soon."

"Sure," Mitchie said with a grin, before turning to Shane, giving him a soft smile as he looked at her. "You sure you don't want to come Pop Star?"

"Absolutely," Shane said vehemently and Mitchie just found herself giggling.

"Fine, your loss," she told him with a smile. "Will I see you tomorrow?"

"Same time? Same Place?"

"I'll be there, and hey who knows, I might be in one of your classes." Shane groaned at the mention of classes and Mitchie recalled that during their conversations in the forest he'd mentioned getting up at the crack of dawn being ungodly. "You'll survive, if anything you'll see me."

"Hmm, tempting, very tempting, but enough to get me out of bed?"

"I should be," she told him with a cheeky grin.

"Mitchie," Caitlyn singsonged. "I hate to break up this little fight but we really should go, Lola will kill me if I miss her performance."

"Alright Caitlyn, calm down," Mitchie told her new friend with a smile before turning back to Shane. "I have to go."

"I know, now get out of here, go have fun," he ordered her. "But can I have my jacket back? I don't think you want questions about why you have it on, it is my trademark after all."

Mitchie said nothing to him, just quickly shrugged herself out of his all too comfortable leather jacket and handed it over to him. He took it within seconds and gave her one last smile, one she could make out in the faint glow coming from the now lit camp.

"Tomorrow," he told her as he set off toward his own cabin, and Mitchie finally turned to face Caitlyn with a grin on her face.

"Shall we?" she asked happily and Caitlyn grinned at her before linking their arms together and setting off in the opposite direction of Shane.

The two walked in silence for a few minutes, but Mitchie knew that it wasn't going to last long and she was right. Within two minutes of their departure for the Opening Jam Caitlyn was looking at her and talking about what had just happened.

"So you and Shane are-"

"Just friends," Mitchie said with a glance at her friend. "I mean it Caitlyn," she reiterated when she got another set of raised eyebrows.

"Really? Because you were holding hands and-"

"I got nervous when I had to tell you about my mom, he was just comforting me. It's just a friendship, I promise, I mean we just met today."

"So? A lot can happen in less than twenty-four hours and you two were fighting like an old married couple," Caitlyn said with a snort and Mitchie found herself giggling. "Personally Mitchie, I have no idea how you stand him, I mean Hot Tunes makes him out to be such a dickhead."

"I know, but he hasn't been that way to me so far. He's nice, really," Mitchie tried to convey and Caitlyn just gave her a look as they finally got into the Camp and headed towards the Mess Hall.

"Whatever you say Mitchie, I'll believe you if you say so," Caitlyn told her as they finally got to the mess hall. Before they could go inside Mitchie stopped the other brunette next to her at the door.

"Caitlyn, you won't tell anyone will you? I don't want questions and-"

"Hey don't worry about it," Caitlyn interrupted. "Your secret is safe with me. Promise."

"Thanks Caitlyn," Mitchie responded with a smile as she reached for the door to the hall and held it open for her friend. "But you know…I can't believe that Nate Thompson liked you."

"Hey!" Caitlyn cried as she stepped inside. "I'm a damn good catch Torres, he'd be lucky to have me."

The two teenage girls glanced at each other for a few moments before they lapsed into fits of giggles, heading into the cabin to watch Lola perform and to officially be welcomed into Camp Rock for the interesting summer it was bound to be now.

XXXXXXXXXX

**And so we bring in Caitlyn who was actually one of my favorite characters in the movie so she will definitely be involved in this story. I'm even thinking of creating a little Naitlyn when I bring him into the story. **

**As always, leave your thoughts and opinions. They really do inspire me and make me smile. Thanks!**


	7. Late Night Musings & Unexpected Rescues

**Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own CR. Disney has that honor. I just own the idea!**

**AN: So sorry for the delay everyone but school caught up with me as did a touch of writer's block. But it's all gone now and hopefully I can regularly update at least once a week. Now I make no promises but really I'm going to do my best. Anyways, to make up for the long wait I made this chapter extra-long. Hope you enjoy!**

XXXXXXXXXXX

As Shane headed back to his cabin, he couldn't help but stop in his tracks. He knew it probably sounded silly but he literally turned around to watch Mitchie leave with Caitlyn, a smile crossing his face as he heard her laughter carrying on the wind. He was sad to leave her, but he was also happy that she was going to be with friends because frankly she deserved them.

All he had to do now was convince her she had talent and get her some confidence. Shane knew that those two goals would take some time to accomplish but he had all summer and he was confident in his abilities. In fact, he was already starting to see some confidence Mitchie from the way she'd spoken to him earlier. Actually, spoken to was an understatement, Mitchie Torres had full on bitched Shane Grey out for his attitude and oddly enough he was alright with that. Granted, it had been a shock because he never let anyone speak to him like that but with Mitchie it was different. It was different because she actually treated him like a person, because she listened to him, because she was just different. He liked that about her and he wasn't about to lose her friendship because of the attitude that he knew he had.

_Friends._ Now there was a word that he never thought he'd say to himself ever again. For the longest time he'd resigned himself to just having Nate and Jason as his friends. After all they were the only two people he could trust in this crazy business but Mitchie was starting to change that view. At the very least he could trust her, and he liked that because it'd had been so long since he'd felt that with anyone.

Shane jumped out of his thoughts when he felt a vibration in his pocket. He quickly reached for his phone as he resumed walking towards his cabin. He didn't want to be out here, alone, in the dark with no one to protect him from the fangirls if they spotted him. But that was beside the point, what was in the now was his cell phone going off and who exactly was calling him. Shane smirked when he saw the name in the caller i.d. _Nate_, now for the first time all day he was happy to see that name pop up bon his phone. Because now that he knew Caitlyn, Shane was planning to take some much needed revenge upon his bandmate.

He grinned as he opened his phone and put it to his ear, already taking delight in all the possibilities his mind was coming up with right now.

"Hello," he said into the phone and he grimaced when he heard Jason's laugh from the other end, how dare they have fun without him?

"Hey there buddy," Nate's voice rang out from the other end of the line. "Jase and I just wanted to see if you were still alive."

"Yeah, we were betting you'd gone crazy by now," Jason said with a chuckle and Shane felt himself glaring at the phone.

"Thanks so freaking much for the vote of confidence guys," Shane snorted into the phone as he finally reached his cabin. Sighing in relief he quickly headed up the stairs and opened the door as he listened to Nate speaking.

"Anytime there Buddy. But seriously, now that you've had an entire day at Camp, can you honestly say that you hate it there?"

"Yes," Shane hissed as he set his guitar by the dresser and threw his jacket on a nearby chair. "I mean really, its nature, and trees, and I don't do that guys."

"So? You need an attitude adjustment and like we said in the car, Camp Rock used to be our favorite place. We loved it there and you need to freaking remember that before the label decides to drop us," Nate lectured and Shane felt himself rolling his eyes at the words.

"That label won't drop us, we're their hottest band right now, they aren't stupid enough to lose us and you know it," he told Nate heatedly. "But honestly I don't know if I would care because the label isn't letting us be us."

"Well Shane maybe if you didn't throw temper tantrums at every turn we'd get to be ourselves," Nate hissed. Shane sighed and collapsed on top of his bed after he'd gotten everything else taken care of.

"Well if you and Jason keep on saying nothing then I guess they'll just get it right?" He asked and he heard Jason and Nate both voice a loud Hey, from their end. "Look guys, could we not fight right now. It's been a long day and I am just not in the mood to beat you in an argument." Shane smiled at the loud protests that followed his remarks and almost laughed as he heard Nate and Jason wrestling for the phone. Despite his annoyance with his two friends, he still couldn't deny the fact that they were his friends.

"Jason stop it!" Nate called out.

"No! Shane would sooo not beat us! We are better than him and I want to know if he's making me a birdhouse yet."

"JASON!"

Shane couldn't help himself as he listened to them fight even more until he finally could take no more. He loved the two like his brothers and like brothers they were being rather annoying now.

"GUYS! Stop it. I would so beat you and you know it AND I am not making you a birdhouse Jason," he said pointedly and immediately after that he heard Jason's protest.

"Jason shut up! He isn't going to make you a birdhouse, get over it, and Shane you would not beat us," Nate said and Shane laughed.

"Whatever guys," Shane scoffed. "Just keep telling yourselves that. Can we just call this a draw for now?"

"Fine," Came the response from the other end.

"But don't think you'll win this when it comes up again," Nate taunted and Shane rolled his eyes but he chose to not say anything for once, he really wasn't in the mood to argue with them. Besides, if he argued he couldn't take some revenge, and he really wanted to take some revenge upon Nate. Jason would have to wait; he needed time to plan that one out more so than Nate.

"Sure whatever," he said again, a smile forming on his face as he thought of the fun he was about to have with Nate. "Let's talk about something else Nate, buddy, do you remember Caitlyn Gellar?"

"What? W-why do you ask?"

Shane smirked at the obvious falter in his friend's voice, oh the fun he was going to have right now. He would have to thank Caitlyn for it later, and maybe get her number for Nate if he felt so inclined.

"Well maybe because I ran into her a little while ago and I may have mentioned you and-"

"YOU WHAT?!" Nate shouted from the other end of the line as Jason started talking.

"Caitlyn Gellar? Nate wasn't that the girl you liked like a lot?"

"Jason! Shush," Nate hissed. "Shane what in the hell did you do?"

"Oh nothing," Shane said with a snicker. "I just maybe may have mentioned the huge crush you had on her and how it took Jason and I all summer to convince you to-"

"WHAT?! Shane how could you?"

"Maybe because I wasn't thinking about it when I was talking to her, either way she knows now."

"Shane.."Nate whined. "You suck you know that right?"

"Yes, I know," he chuckled. "And I'm really ok with that, anyways, think you could still like her?"

"Maybe," Nate said slowly. "Why? Did she say something?"

"Nate, why was Shane even talking to her?" Jason asked from across the line and for a few minutes there was silence between the two parties.

"You know Jason, you make a good point. Shane why did you start talking to her? She's not beneath you?"

"No, I was with Mitchie and Caitlyn came over to get her and-"

"Mitchie? Who's Mitchie? Shane did you meet someone?" Nate asked, shocked and Shane groaned. He honestly had not intended to tell Nate or Jason anything about Mitchie until he got to know her but his stupid big mouth had just created a problem. Now he had to tell them everything because they wouldn't let up until he did so. This he had definitely not planned on.

"Shane," Nate's voice cut through his thoughts and once again he groaned. "Who is Mitchie? Why do you know a Mitchie? Talk now."

"She's, well, she's someone I met today," Shane began, pausing to take a breath. "After I got off the phone with you two earlier I kind of got noticed by some fans and well they started to run after me; so I ran and then I tripped into some bushes and decided to stay there to wait them out. And while I was waiting for them to scram I heard something."

"You heard something?" Jason interrupted. "Was it birds? Because I remember Camp Rock having a lot of birds and-"

"Jason!" Shane exclaimed, he loved Jason like a brother, really he did but sometimes his tangents about birds needed to be stopped. "If you want to hear the rest of this you will stop before you even start."

Silence met his threat for a few brief moments before he heard Jason's muttered 'sorry' and he smiled because he would get to continue. If he was going to spill his guts he mine as well do it all full force.

"Thank you, now as I was saying, I heard something coming from the cabin and it was a voice," he said softly, his smile growing as he thought of the beautiful voice that belonged to the beautiful person that was Mitchie Torres. "But it wasn't just any voice. This voice could sing, beautifully, and it was singing and playing the kind of music that we used to do. So I decided that I needed to meet the owner of this amazing voice and I risked bodily harm to go into that cabin and guess who that voice belonged to?"

"This Mitchie girl?" Nate asked, playing along with Shane's game.

"Dude, she's not just a girl, she's amazing. Seriously she is," Shane reiterated. "She's got this amazing voice, writes amazing songs, and she's so shy but really nice when you get to know her and I just spent the past few hours getting to know her and-"

"Wait, wait, wait, Shane please for the love of god tell me that you did not have sex with her," Nate said anxiously and Shane immediately shot up from his comfortable position and looked at his phone in shock for a few minutes before he decided that he was sane enough to talk.

"NO and don't you ever suggest it again, god that's disgusting I barely even know her and-"

"That's never stopped you before," Nate countered and Shane scoffed. While this was true, Shane found that he was offended by Nate even insinuating that he would be that way with Mitchie. She wasn't a conquest that he wanted to brag about, she was a friend, one that he could count on.

"Shut up Nate, it's not like that with Mitchie. She's, well, she's a friend," Shane told his bandmate heatedly. "Please don't ever talk about her like that again. She's different and she's just a friend," he said vehemently.

"Ok, calm down," Nate said quickly. "I'm sorry I said anything like that about her. I won't again, but is she really a friend? I mean can she be trusted as a friend?"

"Thank you and yes she can be. Guys, I don't know how to describe it but she's different, I just know she's different. She's not going to run off to Pop Informer or anything and she's so talented. Her voice is just, you have to hear me to believe it."

"Well I wanna meet this Mitchie," Jason said and Shane found his eyebrows rising in surprise at that.

"Really? Why Jase?"

"Because you're being nice again, and the way you're talking about her means that she has to be special because it's like the way you used to talk about music," Jason explained and Shane found himself speechless. He honestly and truly didn't know what to say about it because one; Jason made an insightful observation and two; he had a point. Was he really so different after a few hours with Mitchie? Yes he was dropping the attitude around her but now around Nate and Jason as well? This was new but Shane found that he liked it. After all, it's not like he wanted that attitude, it wasn't him, it was just necessary in his crazy life.

"Wow Jase, I don't know what to say."

"I know, it's ok, just saying," Jason said happily. "It's good to have the old Shane break through."

"He's right Shane, this Mitchie, keep her around," Nate ordered. "If you can trust her then we can trust her and you need to keep her around because she's obviously doing some good for you."

"Gee guys thanks. But really you have to hear her, maybe I can convince her to sing for you over the phone when I see her again. But not right now, it's too late," he said, more to himself than anyone else as he glanced at the clock by his bed. He'd really spent a long time on the phone with Nate and Jason, it was almost eleven thirty and he had to be up at some ungodly hour to teach tomorrow morning. "Speaking of guys, I think I need to head out for the night, because I have to freaking teach at some disgusting hour of the morning," he hissed. "I still owe you for this."

"Ehh whatever," Nate told him. "You're there and we're at home in LA therefore we're safe but we're going to go now. Have fun teaching, mold them."

"And don't forget about my birdhouse!" Jason called out before the line went dead. Shane pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it for two seconds, absorbing the conversation he'd just had with his friends. It had been an actual conversation, no yelling or screaming involved, just a conversation and Shane liked that he'd been able to do that. He missed his friends, he missed having that kind of talk with them and he hoped that those kinds of talks could continue.

But right now, he had to get ready for what was sure to be hell tomorrow morning. He groaned as he thought about what he had to do then, _teach_. The very word sent shivers down his spine because he simply didn't want to do it. He didn't want to spend his time with people who would gawk at him, with girls who were more than likely maul him. Tomorrow was going to be hell on earth.

He glanced at the clock once more and he knew that he really should get to sleep but he honestly wasn't in the mood to do so. He wasn't tired and he really couldn't remember the last time he'd gone to bed before two in the morning. Shane sighed and tried to figure out what he should do; he didn't want to call anyone or risk being outside and he knew that couldn't go find Mitchie, however much he wanted to.

_Mitchie._ At the thought of her he smiled and suddenly, he knew exactly what he could do right now. He quickly got up, grabbed his guitar, songbook, and pencil and settled himself at the desk chair. The song he'd been working on earlier had been inspired by her and he wanted to finish it for her and his own state of mind. The melody for the song had been haunting him ever since he'd walked away from their first meeting. But strangely, Shane wouldn't have it any other way because that was how music, the kind of music that he wrote got created; he'd get an idea in his head and then it just wouldn't leave until he did something about it. During his time with Mitchie his song idea had been sedated by her presence but now that he as alone it was coming back to haunt him with a vengeance and he was intending to do something about it. Getting comfortable, he let his fingers move over the guitar strings slowly, refreshing his memory on what he'd created earlier that night.

"Every time I think I'm closer to the heart.." he sang softly to himself, smiling as the words and chords just seemed to flow from him. This was inspiration at its finest, and he didn't care if it took him all night, he would finish this song.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Shane, get up."

He groaned at the words and turned over in his bed, pulling the covers over his head in the process. Whoever had the nerve to attempt to awaken him right now was going to be ignored, he didn't have the energy to do it because he had practically stayed up all night working on that damn song. He'd finished it, re-written it, fine tuned it and when all was said in done he really hadn't gone to bed until almost three in the morning.

"Shane, get your arse out of bed. Now."

There was that annoying voice again and once more he chose to ignore it. He was not getting out of bed, he was far too comfortable and he refused to move. He was going to stay here, pretend he was still asleep and then actually go back to sleep.

"Fine, but just remember you forced me to do this."

In one quick movement Shane found his blanket being pulled over his head and a dose of cold water being thrown onto his body. He jumped up from his very comfortable position then, eyes snapping open as he looked around for the idiot that had dared to do this to him.

"What the hell?" he seethed as his eyes finally landed on his Uncle who was staring at him with a smile on his face.

"I tried to get you up the nice way but you just had to make it difficult," Brown told him, holding the vase that had been on his bedside table up for him to see. "I had to get creative."

Shane rolled his eyes and glanced at the clock, noting that it was barely seven in the morning. He groaned, he usually never got up this early unless the band had to do an interview and even then their assistant always had lots of coffee for him.

"And why are you waking me up at this ungodly hour?" he seethed, he really was not a morning person.

"Because I have a camp to run and we both have classes to teach."

"My first class isn't for another hour," Shane told him, earning a surprised look from his Uncle.

"I'm shocked you even know that, but that's beside the point," Brown said with a shake of his head. "I'm in here because you need to get up and go eat breakfast. I promised your manager and more importantly your mum that I'd make sure you eat. So get up," he ordered and Shane felt his eyes roll again. Did his manager honestly think he'd starve himself in order to get out of this horrid experience? Apparently so, and he was half tempted to call said manager and have a few words with him. He really wasn't irked about his mother worrying, she did that all the time with the boys.

"Shane, up now," Brown said, heading for the door. "I have to go check on things but get up, get dressed and go eat," he ordered as he headed outside, pausing just once in the doorway. "And you probably want to put that mattress out in the sun to dry, it's the only one you're going to get."

Shane glared daggers as he watched his Uncle walk away, laughing. He sighed and looked at the clock, he really did not want to get up right now but he supposed he really didn't have a choice. He was wet, the bed was wet, and he was kind of hungry. He just prayed that the cafeteria had some sort of caffeine in it as he begrudgingly got out of bed and headed for his dresser.

Twenty minutes later Shane was heading out of his cabin and walking the short distance to the mess hall. He'd dressed himself in his signature skinny jeans, and a plain t-shirt, he was hoping to blend in as much as possible because at this early hour he did not want to deal with. In fact he was quite sure he would lash out at anyone who dared approach him this morning. All he wanted to do was get in and out of the mess hall unnoticed and with food and coffee in his system.

Sadly, things just couldn't be that easy because the very second Shane stepped into the cabin that housed the mess hall everyone in it went quiet. He inwardly groaned as he looked around, it seemed like the entire camp was there and looking at him. He did not want this right now, he didn't want the attention, in fact all he did want was some caffeine and maybe a bagel. Taking a breath he resolved himself to the fact that if he wanted either of those things he needed to get through the room, he could do this. He would grab something and then run in the opposite direction, now that he could definitely do.

Slowly he managed to make his way into the cabin and without so much as a second thought he began walking the length of the room. It was still quiet and he could now feel every set of eyes on him, it was really starting to make him uncomfortable. But gratefully no one really bothered him until he got to the middle of the room, then some brave girl, well brave isn't the choice word he'd use but a girl decided to approach him.

Actually if he had to be honest he could swear that the girl practically tripped him because the second he got close to her, a heeled foot went out and then he was stumbling and being grabbed by her all too eager hands.

"Oh my gosh I am sooo sorry, are you alright?" she asked, and he instantly could tell that he would not like this girl. Her voice was fake, the apology was fake and he shuddered, these were exactly the type of girls he hated, Video Girls. But he had to play nice right now, blowing up at her might result in him being sent to boot camp or something. So despite his disdain he put a fake smile on his face and looked at her. Immediately he wanted to look away, yes she was cute, a blonde even, but the look in her eyes spoke volumes to him, she was just out to use him for the fame. Of course she was, not every girl could be like Mitchie.

"Its fine, my fault, didn't see your foot there," he said, trying his best to pull himself away from her grasp.

"Oh no it was like totally my fault," the girl exclaimed, releasing him after he gave a hard pull. He almost thought she'd let him leave, almost being the key word there because the second he moved to get away her hand came out to stop him. "I'm Tess. Tess Tyler." She put emphasis on that last name and he knew why. Her mother was legendary in the world of music but he'd only met her once and frankly he hadn't cared for her personality, it had been fake and just to stuck up for his tastes and it seemed that the apple didn't fall too far from the tree.

"Nice to meet you," he tried to be nice, really he did but this was trying his patience. He wanted caffeine, food, and to get the hell out of this.

"Oh really the pleasure is all mine Shane, "she said, leaning forward. "I was wondering, would you like to join me for breakfast?" Shane almost let himself give over to hysterics at her attempt to be seductive, this girl was really just acting like any other crazed groupie and hell would freeze over before he decided to join her and the lackeys she had standing behind her.

"No," he said quickly. "In fact I've suddenly lost my appetite, so if you'll excuse me," he moved towards the door this time. He'd gladly skip breakfast if it meant getting out of here, he'd just hunt Mitchie down later and beg her for something if he got too hungry.

"Wait." Shane groaned when Tess' other hand stuck out to prevent him from leaving her presence once more. "If you're not hungry then maybe you'd like a tour of the camp? I'm sure things have changed since you're last summer here and I'd be happy to give you-"

He held his hand up then, his patience was already thin enough and he was not going to deal with this pop princess wannabe for another second.

"Look whatever it is the answer is no. Not interested, now move so I can leave," he told her pointedly and he almost laughed in glee at the glare he got from her in return before he pushed himself through her arms and practically sprinted towards the cabin door.

"Wow, tough break Tess."

"Tough? Please, this is just starting, he obviously wants me, did you see that look in his eyes?"

Those were the last words he heard before he managed to finally escape that awful cabin and inwardly he laughed. In what weird dimension would he ever want someone like Tess? Never. He hated girls like her, besides why would he want someone like her when he had someone like Mitchie? Shane paused at that thought; did he really want someone like Mitchie?

He smiled at the thought and immediately answered yes to his own question because Mitchie was great, and if he was going to be so honest with himself he mine as well admit that he had a small crush on her. She was cute, talented, and most importantly she got him, how couldn't he not have a crush on her? But he really didn't know the extent of his feelings yet, he had to spend more time with her before he could analyze any of that.

Sighing Shane took in his surroundings, he was outside the mess hall cabin and he still had a good half an hour to kill before he had to go and teach those that had been staring at him, what was he going to do now? He considered going back to his cabin but he knew that if he did that he'd be tempted to go back to sleep and he was not in the mood for one of his Uncle's lectures. So he really could only do one thing, walk around and kill time and that's what he started to do.

He walked around the mess hall cabin and considered maybe going for a hike in the woods but was stopped when he heard a door opening from beside him. Thinking that it was more crazy fans he plastered another happy smile on his face and turned around to face them but to his surprise there was only one person standing there; Mitchie Torres to be exact. She was standing in the doorway to what he guessed were the kitchens, a smile on her face and a cup of what he hoped was coffee in her hands.

"Hey Pop Star," she said softly, beckoning to him with a free hand. Almost instantly he felt his fake smile turn into a genuine one and he raced over to the doorway and up the steps to greet her.

"I heard what happened in the mess hall, I was in here helping my mom out," she explained, offering him the cup and he almost sent up a prayer of thanks upon seeing that it was indeed coffee. He gratefully took it and brought the cup to his lips, drinking deeply, not even caring that his tongue was getting burned in the process.

"And that prompted you to offer me coffee?" he asked as he finally pulled away from his new favorite drink in the world. She giggled and he felt his heart leap, he really did love it when she did that.

"No, but I guess that you hadn't had a chance to get your breakfast yet and I thought that maybe I could snag you before you went back to your cabin to sleep or something. I wanted to see if maybe you wanted to eat in the kitchen while mom, the staff and I clean up?" she asked hopefully and he felt himself grinning. Only Mitchie would think of an idea like this and he loved it, not only would no one suspect him of being in there but he'd also get to spend time with Mitchie.

"I'd love to," he answered quickly. She smiled and motioned for him to enter and he gratefully did so, following her into the vast room where several staff members were already hard at work trying to get things cleaned up as well as get the basic set up ready for lunch.

"Have a seat at the counter and I'll get you something, do you want eggs, bacon, toast?" she asked as he took a seat and watched her move around the kitchen.

"Could I actually just get some toast?" he asked but at her glare he immediately held his hands up in surrender. "And some eggs?" he asked, hoping to appease her, grinning when she smiled and nodded. Not even five seconds later there was a plate of toast and eggs in front of him along with a fork and knife. "Thank you," he told her as she set it down and smiled at him. "For everything."

"Anytime Pop Star," she told him with a grin before setting herself down in the seat opposite him. He took the hint as she looked down at the plate and quickly set himself to the not so hard task of devouring what was in front of him.

"Is it good?" Mitchie asked with a laugh as he just looked at her and nodded.

"Mhmm, remind me to thank you wonderful mother," he told her and she smiled.

"Or you could thank her wonderful mother right now?" A voice from behind Mitchie made Shane jump and immediately his eyes scanned and came into contact with the gaze of a middle-aged woman who looked like Mitchie. She was smiling as she came up and wrapped her arms around her daughter and Shane felt himself grinning at the site, Mitchie just looked so comfortable with her mother and he liked that. There was yet another thing to add to the 'Why Mitchie is Amazing' list that he had started in his mind last night.

"Shane," Mitchie said nervously, biting her lip as she looked at him. "This is my mother and resident cook at Camp Rock, Connie Torres."

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Torres, I'm Shane," he said immediately, dropping his fork to his now empty plate and holding his hand out to her. He was surprised when she immediately reached out to shake his hand, he was expecting a long lecture or something because really many mothers wouldn't want him near their daughters.

"It's nice to finally meet you Shane. Mitchie wouldn't stop talking about you last night," Connie said with an appraising look and he laughed as Mitchie blushed a deep red, he really did love it when she did that around him.

"She talked about you a lot as well Mrs. Torres and I hope she told you only good things?" he asked hopefully as he dropped her hand, he really wanted to make a good impression on this woman because she could possibly control the friendship he was starting to build with Mitchie.

"Of course, she said that you were nothing but a gentlemen when you two were together last night." Shane felt his eyes widen at that and he looked at Mitchie, who simply nodded to his silent question.

"I told her who I was with, my mom and I have a really open relationship Shane. She's ok with us being friends, don't worry," Mitchie softly assured him and he relaxed just a bit, he wasn't out of danger yet; he still had to show Mrs. Torres that he was the type of guy who deserved her daughters friendship.

"I trust Mitchie's judgment and if she says that you're a good guy then I'm going to believe her," Mrs. Torres said quickly. "Besides, I should know better than to believe every word those gossip shows say."

He chuckled at that and nodded, he already liked her mother and was truly glad that she going to give him a chance to prove that he wasn't such a jerk.

"Thanks Mrs. Torres and can I please say that you're an awesome cook? This is definitely the best the food has ever been here."

"Oh I already like him, but please call me Connie, Mrs. Torres makes me feel so old," the older woman said with a laugh. "Now how did Shane end up in here?" she asked to the both of them.

"Well there was an incident with a camper throwing herself at me and I didn't like all the stares I was getting," Shane explained quickly. "And your daughter here heard it and then came to rescue me from dying of starvation."

"You wouldn't of died," Mitchie retorted with a roll of her eyes. "Just gone hungry until lunch."

"Well no one goes hungry on my watch," Connie told them both. "Shane you are more than welcome to eat in here if it gets to awkward in there."

"Thanks Mrs.- I mean Connie," he corrected himself upon seeing the look in her eyes. "I think I'll have to take you up on that offer until the fact that I'm here actually wears off."

"Speaking of you being here, you should probably get going Shane," Mitchie told him, pointing towards the clock on a nearby wall. "Your class starts in like ten minutes and I'm in it so it'd be nice if the instructor was there to teach it," she told him with a laugh and he groaned. Why did she have to remind him that he had to teach soon?

He pouted but the look she gave him left no room for arguments. "Fine I'm going, what should I do with my plate?"

"Leave it there and I'll get it before I come along in a few minutes," she instructed and he nodded before he headed towards the door.

"See you in a few minutes Mitch and don't be late," he called out as he rushed out the door and headed towards the cabin where his dance class would occur. He really wasn't looking forward to this but Mitchie was in the class so maybe, just maybe it wouldn't be completely unbearable.

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**AN: Feedback is greatly and wonderfully appreciated. **

**And as much as I hate to do it, I'm going to pimp a story or two. During my slight bout of writers block I wrote a couple one-shots that I'm really happy with and if you lovelies would check them out I'd love it. The one-shots are "Can I Have This Dance", "Fearless", and "Beautifully Broken". The latter two are actually a Naitlyn and an exploration into Tess' character. So if you'd like to check it out…it'd make me smile. A lot. **

**See ya next chapter! Thanks for reading and if you celebrate Halloween, have a GREAT night! :)**


	8. Race, Dance, and then Twist?

**Disclaimer: If you recognize it then I most definitely don't own it. That honor goes to Disney.**

**AN: So I wasn't sure if I'd be able to update so soon but last night left me truly and completely inspired and this chapter is in celebration of that inspiration. It's history here in the States and I'm proud to be a part of it. So this is the newest chapter and I hope you enjoy it.**

**This chapter is dedicated to BabyD who has been an avid reviewer from the start of this story and she reads this one and it makes her smile. **

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She raced through the camp as quickly as her legs would carry her, she honestly didn't care about all the weird glances she was getting right now because she had to get to her dance class with Shane. Correction to she had to be in class in less than two minutes and if she didn't run she was going to be late. She cursed herself as she ran, if it hadn't been for that damn piano in the mess hall she wouldn't have to worry about this right now. But unfortunately that wasn't the case because that piano was very present and she'd gotten very distracted by it as she'd been cleaning up the mess hall. She hadn't been able to help herself; she'd played the wonderful instrument until her mother came in and told her what time it was.

That had led to her current predicament, racing across camp in an attempt to make it to dance class on time. No, she couldn't attempt to be on time, she had to be because of the way she'd spoken to Shane about it. She was not about to risk getting made fun of by him for being late because she knew that he would do just that if she showed up just a second too late.

Mitchie chuckled at that, she knew that it was crazy and that she'd only known him for a little less than a day but she was already comfortable with the idea of Shane doing that to her. She was already comfortable with the idea of sending a comeback straight his way. In fact, when it came to Shane Grey Mitchie found that she just about comfortable with everything that had to do with him. It really was insane but she was because they got each other. She knew that he wouldn't do something to intentionally upset her, that he would comfort her if she got too nervous, when it came to him she just knew.

Oh yes, she was definitely crazy for thinking all of this about a guy she barely knew but for once Mitchie refused to listen to her logical side. With Shane she wanted to throw caution to the wind and just let herself trust him, however naïve it may be. She was going to do that because he deserved the benefit of the doubt, he deserved to have a friend other than his band mates. Shane just deserved to have someone to confide in and Mitchie was more than happy to be that person for him. After all he was nice and kind to her, and well he was cute.

Wait, pause that thought, had she really just thought that Shane Grey was cute? As she raced through camp she processed that question and came to the very real conclusion that yes, she had just though that Shane Grey was cute and she was oddly alright with that. Normally, when it came to guys Mitchie faltered and stumbled awkwardly but with Shane it had been easy to think that he was cute, and nice, and sweet. Ok, if Mitchie was being completely honest with herself she'd have to admit that she had a slight crush on Shane Grey. He was cute and nice and not to mention talented, how could she not have a crush on someone like him? But she wasn't actually going to do anything about it; after all, it was a crush. Crushes went away with time and someone like Shane Grey would never want a nobody like her.

So, the crush would go away and she could just be his friend, something she definitely wanted to be. But that didn't matter right now, what mattered was that she now had exactly one minute to be in her dance class taught by him and she had to get there on time. So Mitchie quickly shut her mind down from thought and just concentrated on getting to that dance cabin and soon. She all but sprinted there but let out a sigh of relief when she was finally there at the steps and rushing up them and into the cabin.

She still had thirty seconds and took a moment to thank her legs for their speedy movements before finally taking a deep breath and glancing around the room. It seemed as though the rest of the class had already gotten here and she saw that many of her new friends were in it. She was happy about that, but she was also less than enthusiastic to find that Tess Tyler and her little groupies were also in this class but with Caitlyn in the class she could deal. She smiled when Caitlyn finally saw her and waved her over to the group she'd formed with their dinner table from last night.

"Hey guys," Mitchie said softly as she nodded to each of them. Lola smiled and returned the nod as Barron and Sander yelled a collective 'Hey!' and went back to the mini dance off they were having. Mitchie chuckled at the determined looks on both of their faces and quickly took a seat next to Caitlyn who was looking at her with a smirk on her face.

"Why were you almost late? Hanging out with the jerk?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. Mitchie laughed and shook her head to the question. Over the course of their night together last night Caitlyn had code named Shane the jerk so she wouldn't raise suspicion around others when talking about him.

Last night; Mitchie couldn't help but smile when she thought about it. She'd quite honestly had one of the best nights of her entire life. Not only had she gotten to spend her night with Shane, one of the nicest guys she'd encountered in her life, but she'd also gotten to spend it with Caitlyn and her friends. After going into the mess hall last night Mitchie had been treated to an amazing performance by Lola as well as watching Barron and Sander battle it out on the tops of tables. She'd had a great time, despite running into Tess Tyler yet again. But thankfully Tess hadn't started anything with her and Mitchie had a sneaking suspicion that that had been because of Caitlyn and Lola standing right by her.

But still, drama avoided, fun night had by all. In fact, the little group she'd joined had stayed in the mess hall until almost midnight talking and laughing. Mitchie had told Lola and the boys why she was there and once again, Caitlyn proved to be right, they hadn't cared about where she came from, just that she was at Camp Rock. By the time she'd left that night, Mitchie had felt really confident that she had made some actual friends that weren't actually famous, just uber talented and on the way to being famous one day. She'd been happy, really happy last night.

"Yoo hoo, Mitchie."

She jumped when she heard her name being called and snapped back into reality. Her gaze went back to Caitlyn and she laughed at the expression she saw there.

"Are you alright?" Caitlyn asked slowly and Mitchie nodded, trying to shake off her thoughts about Shane in the process.

"Mhmm," she responded. "I was just thinking about last night, it was a lot of fun."

"Oh you just wait, it gets better as summer goes on," Caitlyn said with a grin. "But question: If you weren't with the jerk then where were you this morning? You ate with us and then just left."

"Oh that," Mitchie said with a sigh. "I had to go help my mom clean up in the kitchen. Sorry."

"Oh well that's fine, just tell us next time."

"Yeah, we totally thought that we scared you away or something," Lola added, pulling the ear-buds to her iPod out of her ear and scooting closer to the group that Mitchie and Caitlyn were forming so she could hear better.

"Hmmm, nah, you're not that scary," Mitchie responded with a grin and the two girls beside her laughed. This was definitely turning out to be a good morning, she'd gotten to see Shane and now she was having fun with the girls.

"But it's sad that you had to miss this morning," Caitlyn said with a sigh. "Right after you left sheer brilliance happened."

"Oh really?" Mitchie asked, sitting up as both Caitlyn and Lola nodded. "What happened?"

Well Shane Grey finally made his presence known at the camp," Lola began and Mitchie instantly perked herself up. She had a feeling this was going to be about the story he'd told her and her mother earlier and she was interested to know what had happened.

"Hmm Shane Grey," she began non-chalantly, ignoring the look Caitlyn was throwing her. "Do tell."

"Gladly. See He came in and basically the entire mess hall went silent but the second he started moving Tess Tyler decided to make a move on the poor guy."

"Oh," Mitchie began, not quite able to stop the stab of jealousy that ran through her. She immediately tried to rid herself of it, Shane wasn't her boyfriend; he was her friend. She really had no right to be jealous of anything like that but still, she couldn't help the glare that she shot Tess from across the room. "What did Shane do?" she asked slowly, attempting to sound casual.

"Oh that's the best part," Caitlyn said gleefully as she leaned in to speak in a not so quiet whisper. "He didn't do a thing. As in he just looked at her when she tried and then high-tailed it out of there the second he was able to. Completely and utterly brushed her off."

As Caitlyn finished dramatically Mitchie couldn't help but grin. She couldn't explain it but it made her happy to hear that Shane had done that to Tess, but unfortunately her happiness hadn't gone unnoticed by Caitlyn or Lola.

"Gee Mitchie, you sure seem happy about that," Lola remarked as Caitlyn show her a knowing look.

"W-well, yeah, I mean, it's nice to hear that Tess got taken down you know?" Mitchie asked quickly, and Lola seemed to buy her reasoning very fast.

"True that, but she's probably more determined now than ever to sink her catty claws into him. She's decided they're meant to be," Lola told her as Caitlyn nodded.

"But I think that he sees right through her little game. I mean, for all we know he's already got his eye on someone else," Caitlyn replied, shooting Mitchie a smirk that simply caused the heat in her face to rise.

"Or maybe he just sees that Tess is fake. And maybe he hates fake." Mitchie said when she managed to get herself over the comment Caitlyn had made. She did not like Shane in that way and he didn't like her as more than a friend.

"What did you just say about me?" A malicious voice rang out from behind Caitlyn and Lola. Mitchie jumped as did the two girls and all of their gazes shot upwards. Mitchie groaned as she saw that the voice did indeed belong to Tess Tyler and her groupies were standing right beside her. It seemed that during the conversation she'd been having with Caitlyn and Ella the three other girls had crept up on their somewhat quiet conversation and of course they'd had to hear her comment about Tess. Her one comment was the one they'd have to say something about. Great, she hated confrontation and now she'd have to deal with it.

"I-I," Mitchie began as she stood up, her two friends quickly following her motion as she cursed her nerves for getting the better of her. Shane was right; she really needed to get some confidence in her.

"Actually, you know what? Don't repeat it because I heard it and let me tell you something dish girl," Tess said as Mitchie felt her eyes widen. She groaned as Tess smirked and nodded, getting closer to her body.

"Oh yeah, I know exactly who you are and that you work in the kitchens with your mommy," Tess told her with a grin. "I saw you this morning and just had to follow. But that doesn't matter really because I think we need to get something straight right now dish girl: Shane Grey is mine. See we run in the same circles and really are just perfect for each other. I mean I'm beautiful, rich, and talented and so is he. You…aren't," the blonde said with a gleeful smirk. "You're the help, here only because Brown felt the need to take on a charity case and really Shane would never ever be interested in you."

"Tess shut up," Caitlyn said, immediately coming to Mitchie defense and she quickly looked at her friend in relief and thanks. She knew what Tess said wasn't true but still, her words got to Mitchie, they hurt. Mitchie had been teased all her life and it was the main reason she really didn't have confidence about many things.

"What did you say loser?" Tess remarked to Caitlyn who only got closer to the blonde and glared.

"I said shut up," Caitlyn hissed. "You don't know Mitchie; you don't know anything so shut up. She hasn't done a thing to you and really she's right. You're a fake and I'm sure Shane sees right through it. He's not yours; this morning obviously showed that he has no desire to be yours."

There was a loud "ohhhh" heard throughout the room and Mitchie finally realized that the rest of the class had stopped doing whatever they were doing and were now focused on their little fight going on. But she really wasn't concerned about that, what she was worried about was the fact that she might have to say something and that it might not come out right at all. Where was Shane when you needed him? He should be here by now but of course he was late, even when she'd ordered him to be on time.

"Gellar, I think Shane is mine, we're meant to be," Tess said snidely as she glared at Mitchie. "Unless you're dish girl friend thinks she has a hoping shot with him. She's wrong; after all, what would Shane Grey have in common with kitchen help?" Tess moved closer to Mitchie and away from Caitlyn, attempting and succeeding in making Mitchie feel about as big as an ant.

Mitchie closed her eyes to the glare, she really didn't want to cry right now, crying was weak. She didn't want to be weak in front of Tess Tyler but her words hurt, really hurt and she didn't know how to stop it from hurting. She needed to be stronger than this, she could be, and she would be. She had to be in order to save her mental stability right now.

"Tess I said it before and I'll say it again, shut up before I deck you," Caitlyn hissed and Mitchie opened her eyes to look at her friend. She gave a small smile and was about to say something but was stopped when the sound of a slamming door echoed throughout the cabin. Mitchie's gaze was immediately drawn to the sound and she was relieved when she saw exactly who was standing in the doorway; Shane. She couldn't explain it, but just by seeing him in the room she felt calmer, more relaxed, and definitely more emotionally stable.

"What's going on here?" Shane asked as he stepped into the room and walked towards the group. Mitchie felt Tess jump away from her current position and back to her groupies. The blonde before her immediately turned herself away from Mitchie and Caitlyn and immediately flipped her hair towards Shane and put a toothy smile in his direction.

"Oh nothing," she said all too happily. "Just getting to know the new campers is all. Right Mitchie?" Tess said as she smiled and turned towards her. Mitchie noticed the hard look in Tess' eye and decided that she really wasn't going to try to provoke anything else. Besides, she could always tell Shane about this later, when they were alone.

"Yeah, exactly what she said," Mitchie remarked, turning to Shane and attempting to flash him a look that said 'explain later, teach now.' He thankfully seemed to get the message and nodded in understanding before finally looking at the rest of the group and taking in what he had to do. She watched him take a breath and almost smiled, she knew that he really didn't want to do this, but was going to.

"Everyone, stop standing around," he ordered. "Go grab a mic and a hat and get yourselves back out here." For a moment there was no movement but the second Shane glared the entire room lurched forwards. Mitchie was grabbed by Caitlyn and Lola and dragged towards the box that contained the aforementioned objects all while talking to her.

"Don't you believe a word of what she said," Lola reassured. "Tess is an idiot."

"If you so much as think of believing her I will kick your ass," Caitlyn told her as they finally managed to get to the boxes and grab a mic and hat each.

"Are you going to be ok?" Lola asked.

"Y-yeah," Mitchie finally managed to say as she put her hat on her head and went to stand in the middle of the room with the two girls as they waited for everyone else. "She just.."

"Was a bitch," Caitlyn told her. "Don't make excuses for her; just know that you're better than her."

"Thanks guys. I appreciate it," she said with a small smile.

Lola opened her mouth as though to say something else but was quickly cut off by the rush of feet and everyone else coming back to the floor. Mitchie threw her a look and they both silently decided to pay attention to Shane who had since started music on the sound-system and was now glaring at everyone before he just started moving. No direction, no nothing he just started doing ridiculously intricate hip hop moves and all of them were watching in awe. Mitchie included, her body was not designed to move in the ways he was making his, and this was going to be horrible. But at least no one else was moving either, that was until Shane decided to finally realize that they were all lost. He stopped moving and turned to them all and glared once more.

"Pick it up and move," he ordered and all at once everyone was spreading out again and attempting to follow Shane as he moved. Oh Mitchie was going to have words with him later about this. He wasn't even giving them some explanation just expecting them to follow his moves. But she couldn't say anything now, no, right now she moved so that she could see Shane's feet and attempted to keep up with him.

She struggled to figure out the moves, fell and stumbled more than once, but she wasn't the only one. Almost the entire class, Tess included was having issues. In fact the only three that didn't seem to be having any issues with it were Barron, Sander, and surprisingly Caitlyn. All three were following Shane almost effortlessly and Mitchie made a mental note to grill Caitlyn about her dancing abilities later. But not right now, right now Mitchie concentrated on keeping up. Hand out here, kick your foot out there, change mic hands, take the hat off, all of it was a little overwhelming but Mitchie was proud. For someone who'd never really danced before she thought she was doing really well. That was until Shane decided to stop them all and turn around once again, glaring at the class.

"Split up the group, half stand by the wall, the other half do what I just did," he ordered and pointed to one half to go and stand, which the quickly did. But much to her dismay Caitlyn and Barron had ended up on that exact half along with Ella and Peggy, Tess' cronies. Which meant that, and you guessed it, Tess was in her group and consequently standing right next to her.

"Get into position and get ready to go," Shane ordered as he ran back over to the disc player to restart the music he'd been using.

"Watch it dish girl, you might just have an accident," Tess whispered as she took a spot right next to Mitchie and flashed another toothy smile at Shane in an attempt to get his attention. It didn't work and Mitchie smiled because of it but quickly settled herself back on determined mode as the music began again.

"And 5, 6, 7, go," Shane counted them off and Mitchie began doing the moves. She struggled a bit but actually started to get into it, and managed to sort of keep up with Sander who was in front of her. She even managed to notice that Tess was having some trouble with the routine and she took joy from it.

"Sander great job, take notes from him everyone, and you behind good job at keeping up," Mitchie flashed Shane a grin as he looked at her and pointed. She could've sworn she saw him give her a smirk but quickly dismissed it and went back to dancing. However, she was not the only one who noticed the attention that Mitchie was getting. Tess also noticed and really she didn't like it, and before Mitchie knew what was happening Tess was doing something about her frustration.

She never noticed Tess moving closer and closer to her until it was too late, until she felt a pair of hands sneak their way onto her side and give a push. That one push was all it took for Mitchie to go tumbling sideways and to the ground, her foot twisting in a very not normal way in the process. But that part she didn't even notice until she hit the ground with a very loud thud.

For a moment there was shock running through her veins, and disbelief. She honestly wasn't that clumsy and she'd been concentrating very hard on her feet so she shouldn't have tripped over them. But as she caught her breath and glanced up she realized something; she hadn't tripped, Tess Tyler in all her freaking glory had pushed her. The blonde witch was currently standing over her with a smirk wide as the Nile River on her face.

"Oops," she said softly. "You really are clumsy," she taunted as she glanced down at Mitchie as Caitlyn, Lola, Barron, Sander, and last but certainly not least Shane came rushing over to check on her.

"Mitchie, oh my god, are you-" Lola began but was quickly interrupted by Sander.

"Did I kick you or something?" He asked, concern lacing his voice.

"Nah, you couldn't of," Barron remarked. "You were two steps in front of her but she shouldn't have tripped. Her feet were planted on the ground."

"She didn't trip," Caitlyn remarked with a hiss as she knelt on the ground to help get Mitchie up to sitting position. "I think I know a witch that might of pushed her," she said with a glare towards Tess who only held up her hands in mock surrender.

"I didn't do a thing, not my fault your friend can't balance herself. Maybe she just needs to go back to the kitchens where she belongs."

"Tess be quiet," Shane remarked with a glare as he finally reached the little group around Mitchie. He looked down at her and Mitchie had to admit, butterflies went through her stomach at the soft look in his eyes. One that she was quickly beginning to realize only came into his amazing eyes when she was there. "Are you alright?" he asked her. "You took a really hard fall there."

"Yeah, I think I'm fine," she told him and everyone else, looking at all of them in the process. "But can someone please help me up?" she asked and Shane laughed, she quivered on the inside. He held a hand out to her and she gladly took it and once again, there was that spark of something between them. But for once she chose to ignore it and just let him help her up.

"Thanks," she said with a grin and he just smiled and nodded as he let go of her hand. Mitchie swayed for a moment but then quickly attempted to balance herself by placing weight on her right foot, and found that there was indeed pain there. A lot of pain that she hadn't been aware of before. The kind of pain that made her sway and reach out for the first solid object in front of her that just so happened to be Shane . But she really didn't even register the fact that she'd fallen into his arms, in fact all she was registering was the blinding pain in her ankle, and the tears that were starting to form in her eyes because of it.

"Whoa there, what's wrong?" he asked as he caught her, and she could tell he was biting back a sarcastic comment that quickly seemed to fade when he saw the tears in her eyes. "Mitchie?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"My a-ankle," she managed to get out as she attempted to not cry right now. She might be in pain but she didn't want to cry in front of all these people.

"What about your ankle?" Shane asked as he quickly managed to get her to sit down on the ground and knelt beside her. Once again, Caitlyn was there behind her, holding her up and Lola was there holding her hand as Shane gently grabbed the ankle that was currently causing her so much distress.

"Ow!" she yelled when he pressed down. "Don't do that it hurts," she hissed as she kicked his hand, but quickly regretted the decision as even more pain decided to make itself known. A few stray tears had made their way down her cheeks by now but at the moment Mitchie didn't care, it hurt too much to care.

Shane glanced up at her, worry in his eyes as he met her gaze. It seemed that he might just have an idea as to what was wrong but was afraid to touch her and do anything about it because of the pain he might cause her.

"Oh just do it," she whimpered. And somewhere in the crowd she could've sworn she heard Tess' oh so annoying voice ring out.

"Oh puhlease, she's probably faking it to get attention."

But no one seemed to take any notice of it; at least Mitchie didn't as she watched Shane try and figure out what he wanted to do. After what seemed like a decade he finally decided to make up his mind and she watched through pain-induced eyelids as he looked up at Barron and Sander.

"Come here and hold her legs down for me. I don't want her kicking my face or something," he told them and the two boys immediately complied, kneeling down and pressing down on her legs. When Shane was sure that was done he glanced back up at her and to Caitlyn and Lola at the same time.

"I need you two to keep her calm up there and Mitchie I'm sorry but the shoe is going to have to come off and it's going to hurt alright?"

"Does it have to?" she whined and he nodded.

"Just think about something else ok? I'll get it off as fast as I can."

She nodded and bit her lip as Lola continued to squeeze her hand and Caitlyn attempted to distract her. Mitchie didn't want to watch Shane take her shoe off but she found that she really had to because well Shane was interesting to watch. He was handling her injured ankle as though it were the most fragile piece of glass, moving slowly, massaging places if he could, listening to her whimpers of agony as he got to her shoe.

"Take a breath," he ordered her. "And we'll go on one, two."

He never got to three; no instead Mitchie had to nearly scream as he ripped her shoe off of her foot and pull the sock along with it. She'd closed her eyes in the process but opened them when she heard his sharp intake of breath as well as a gasp from many others in the room. Though the second she'd opened them she'd wished that she could close them right again. There was definitely something wrong with her ankle, after all, the fact that it was the size of a softball should be an indicator there.

"I think you twisted it, but I can't be sure," Shane told her softly, as he moved back up her body, telling Sander and Barron to let go of her legs in the process. "But we need to get you to the nurse so she can confirm it and get you some ice. Lots of it."

"And how am I s-supposed to get there?" she asked, bringing her free hand up to wipe away the tears on her cheeks. Call her a baby but this really did hurt.

"Me," Shane said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. Without another word Mitchie felt his hands snake under her body and she was instantly being pulled upwards and into his embrace. Before she knew it, Lola had let go of her hand, Caitlyn was standing up again, and she was being carried princess style towards the door to the cabin that was already being held open by Sander.

"Caitlyn I need you to go find her mom and ask her to meet us at the nurses' cabin. She'll want to know and if this is more serious than I think she'll need to be there. Lola go find Brown and let him know what happened. The rest of you, class is dismissed for the day, go do something else," Shane barked orders to everyone and within seconds they were all complying. Caitlyn and Lola were out the door before he even finished the last one and everyone else was quickly shuffling past them, wishing her well and then leaving, the only ones that remained were Tess, Peggy, and Ella.

"Why do we have to cancel your class because of her?" Tess asked Shane and Mitchie groaned. She didn't want to deal with Tess now. All she wanted was some ice and lots of it because to her it seemed like her ankle was getting bigger by the second.

"Shane," she groaned and he glanced down at her with a nod.

"I know it hurts hang on, we're going," he reassured her as he moved towards the door. "To answer the question Tess, it's my class, she got hurt on my watch, and therefore I'll be the one making sure she's alright. Now you can stay if you want but I'll be with Mitchie making sure your little push didn't break something." Mitchie almost smiled at the malice in Shane's tone, she wanted to smile, but she really couldn't because her ankle was throbbing and that was all she was concentrating on. She didn't even notice that she and Shane were moving through the camp until she felt a very slight breeze brush across her skin.

"Hi," Shane said softly, and her eyes went to meet his and she saw the concern there. Once again, she almost smiled; in fact she actually tried to smile but had to stop when she felt her ankle throb. He must've noticed the wince that went across her face because he glanced down at her ankle to and then back to her. "How does it feel?"

"Honestly?" She asked and he just gave her a look.

"No, lie to me," he remarked sarcastically and she laughed, just a little bit, and then winced once more. It seemed that even laughing made her stupid ankle hurt.

"Jerk," she muttered as he just gave her a grin that made her butterflies come back again. Even when she was in pain she had to admit that she loved when Shane gave her that grin. It made the pain she was going through a little more bearable.

"I can live with being a jerk," he remarked quietly. "But seriously Mitch, how's your ankle feel?"

"It hurts," she told him. "A lot. As in I'd like lots of Tylenol right about now." Shane chuckled and once again her heart fluttered. God she really needed to get over this crush and soon, before she actually fell for him.

"I'll see what I can do about that, hopefully the nurse has something she can give you. I really do think it's just a bad twist, you'll probably have to stay off it for a day or two though."

"Why thank you Dr. Shane, I had no idea you had a medical license," she remarked with a groan and he just shook his head and picked up his pace, shifting in her arms just slightly in the process.

"I don't, just years of experience on stage, just calm down and breathe for me," Shane softly ordered and Mitchie nodded. She leaned her head against his shoulder and breathed in and out, attempting to concentrate on something other than her ankle. It was then Mitchie was hit by the scent the running through her head, Shane, there was no other way to describe the smell. It was all Shane, old spice with a hint of soap and Mitchie loved it. It was just like wearing his jacket last night, except so much better because it was actually Shane in the flesh. It helped make her forget about her ankle in a very good way.

"Are we there yet?" she whined from against his shoulder and Shane chuckled.

"Actually yes we are," he said and she looked up at him in surprise to find him glancing down at her and then back at the door that was now in front of them. "Can you reach your hand down and get the handle, I would but my hands are currently occupied."

She nodded and he maneuvered them closer so she could do as he asked. With some very good maneuvering and bending down on Shane's part Mitchie managed to find the doorknob, turn it and then push on the worn wooden door so Shane could get them inside of the cabin. Almost immediately Mitchie was greeted by the scent of cleaning products and she felt her nose wrinkle as Shane moved further inside and called out.

"Nurse Green," Shane called out and almost immediately a middle-aged woman, no older than her mother stepped into the main room and took in the sight of Mitchie in Shane's arms. Mitchie watched as the nurse's eyebrows rose and she felt her face flush in embarrassment, but Shane didn't seem to notice as he smiled at the woman.

"Hi Nurse Green, I'm not sure if you remember me but-"

"Oh I remember you," the woman said with an amused smile. "I remember you, Nate and Jason all coming in here every other day of Camp with some sort of injury," Mitchie glanced up at Shane then and felt her eyebrows rise. He just gave her a smirk in response and a nod to the question bubbling in her brain.

"So all three of us spent a lot of time here, we were, adventurous guys."

"Adventurous?" Nurse Green said with a snort. "You can call it that I suppose, I just call it stupid."

Mitchie giggled at that but once again instantly regretted it as her ankle decided to make itself known again and most painfully. She groaned and watched as Shane looked down at her in alarm before quickly moving toward the Nurse who was moving to them.

"Well believe it or not, I'm not the hurt one this time," Shane remarked as Nurse Green finally managed to reach them and glanced down at Mitchie.

"Yes I can see that, what happened dear?"

"I was in dance class and I fell," Mitchie said quietly, deciding to leave out the exact how on her fall. "And did something to my ankle," she added as an afterthought, she would probably want to mention exactly what was hurting if she wanted any help. The nurse immediately took her hand down to Mitchie's swollen ankle, which had thankfully stopped swelling, but was still throbbing. Mitchie yelped when the nurses' hand touched her ankle and found her hands gripping Shane's very toned arms.

"Shhh." Shane's voice soothed, murmuring in her ear as his hold on her tightened. If Mitchie wasn't trying to escape the pain she would've actually taken notice as to how close his mouth was to her ears.

"It's alright dear; we'll take care of you. Shane bring her over to that bed and I'm going to get a wrap. It just seems to be a simple twist."

"Well it sure hurts like more than simple," Mitchie remarked quietly as the Nurse walked to her back room and Shane walked her over to the center of the main room and gently set her down on the bed that was set up there. "Thanks," she told him as he just gave her a warm smile and once more Mitchie felt her heart jump. This was bad, she was really starting to like him, as more than a friend, and this was bad.

"Anytime Mitch," Shane remarked as he situated himself up by the upper half of her body. She looked at him and groaned when she saw the triumphant grin on his face. "I so called it as a twist."

"Well whatever it is Doctor Shane it hurts, really hurts," she remarked, reaching up to her cheek to wipe away a few more tears that had sprung back into her eyes when Nurse Green had been touching her ankle.

"I know," Shane soothed, taking his hand and grasping hers within it. As always, the second their hands touched that spark went off again but Mitchie didn't ignore it this time. In fact she squeezed his hand in return and met his gaze, trying to see if he maybe felt the same thing between them, and what she saw in his eyes made her shiver. His amazing eyes were dark and brown and intense, as though he were trying to decipher the same thing. She loved what she saw there, and for a few moments there was silence between the both of them as they stared at each other. Mitchie honestly thought the butterflies in her stomach just about jumped all the way to other parts of her body and she was really quite content to stay this way. The pain in her ankle was slowly being dulled by the look in his eyes that was all she cared about, all she wanted to see.

But unfortunately, like all good moments, this one was interrupted by Nurse Green coming into the room with her hands full. Mitchie watched as Shane glanced at those full hands before quickly pulling his away from hers and going to help the older woman. She was surprised that Shane was helping the Nurse, and she watched him as he grabbed a few things from her and brought them back over to the medical bed.

"You do have a heart," Mitchie told him and he rolled his eyes.

"My mother would slap me senseless if I didn't help a lady when her arms were full."

"And right she should," Nurse Green responded with a smile as she set things down beside Mitchie's foot. "Now dear, your foot has a bad twist, and to help it get better faster I'm going to wrap it and give you some ice. I'm also going to recommend that you stay off of it for the rest of today. "

"But what about classes?" Mitchie asked, great, her first day as a camper and she was already going to miss lessons.

"I think it best if you just rest. I'll send along word to your instructors and you can take it easy. Understand?" Nurse Green said as she began gently taking Mitchie's ankle in hand, a dressing in the one hand that she swiftly began applying to prevent any further damage.

"She understands." Mitchie glared at Shane and then winced as the wrap was put around her ankle. She did not like the fact that he had just spoken for her but he just sent her a look in return as he edged closer to her.

"Mitch-listen to Nurse Green, she knows what she's talking about and you don't want to take chances on that ankle. So today after she's done wrapping your ankle I'm going to carry you back to your cabin and tie you to the bed if I have to," he told her and Mitchie glared once more, but this time added a pout. She had no idea if it would work on him, but it usually worked on her dad, it was worth a try here.

"But I don't wanna be alone all day," she said in her best sad voice, she was going to pull out all the stops here. She watched as Shane looked at her and just grinned. She felt the confusion rise in her as he leaned down and put his mouth right by her ear.

"Who said I was going to let be alone all day?" he asked softly and she just turned her gaze to him. Did he really just say that? Was he really going to spend the entire day with her?

"Really?" she asked. "You don't have other classes to teach?"

"Nah, Brown wouldn't trust me with them, anyways I want to spend my day with you. But you have to agree to what Nurse Green says alright?"

She was instantly nodding to it; she'd get an entire day with Shane in exchange for resting her ankle? She'd gladly take that trade off. She felt her insides get bubbly when he smiled at her and she almost leaned into to him, but once again the moment was ruined; this time by a slamming door. Mitchie jumped at the sound and she felt Shane immediately pull away from their close proximity as her gaze shot to the doorway. She tensed for a moment, thinking that maybe it was Tess or one of her groupies, but immediately relaxed at who she saw standing there; Caitlyn and her mother. Both looked very concerned and at the first sight of Mitchie they were inside and hurrying towards her.

"Honey are you alright?" Her said as she reached her side. "Caitlyn here came rushing into the kitchens and said something about you falling and hurting yourself. What happened?"

"Mom, calm down," Mitchie soothed. "I fell in dance earlier today, just like Caitlyn said and I twisted my ankle pretty badly. But don't worry, it's just a twist and Shane took care of me," she told both her mother and Caitlyn, giving Shane a nod. It was then that her mother finally seemed to notice Shane was in the room and her face softened as she looked at him.

"Thank you Shane, for taking care of her," Connie said and Mitchie almost giggled at the look on Shane's face, she glanced at Caitlyn and saw that she was trying not to do the same thing.

"It's no trouble M-Connie, anytime," Shane mumbled and Mitchie gave him a smile to try and encourage him. She almost wanted to say something but was stopped by Caitlyn.

"So you're ankles just twisted? What does that mean for classes?"

"They're a no go for today. Nurse Green has told me to stay off my ankle and just rest and I'm told that not listening to her is not an option for me," Mitchie replied with a glance towards Shane who simply returned her look with one of his own.

"What about after today?" Connie asked, more to Nurse Green who was still carefully wrapping Mitchie's ankle and doing a very good job of it because Mitchie was hardly noticing the throb there.

"She'll be fine after a day of rest. She'll just have to take it easy on the ankle tomorrow, and I'd advise no dancing for a couple of days."

"But she'll be alright?" Mitchie rolled her eyes at her mother, constantly worried about her well-being.

"Just fine given some rest."

"You hear that honey? You just need to rest for today." Mitchie smiled as her mother just looked at her but instantly realized that being her mother, Connie Torres would try to not do her work today in order to take care of her.

"I know mom, but I don't want you to stay with me. I'll be fine today. I know you want to be in the kitchen with the staff, making sure things run smoothly."

"Oh honey, that's not important."

"To you it is. And I'll be fine, promise. I mean-"

"I'll be with her Connie." Mitchie looked up at Shane in surprise; she hadn't expected him to admit to that in front of Caitlyn.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I said I'd stay with her today. I don't have any other classes to teach and I don't want her to be alone and I really don't mind. I love spending time with her. So you can get back to work, Caitlyn you can go to your classes and we'll chill in your cabin."

"Wow, well, thank you Shane." Once again, Mitchie was fighting off the urge to giggle at the look of embarrassment on Shane's face but she quickly resolved herself to being serious as her mother looked at her.

"And you're sure you'll be alright without me?"

"Yes mom, I'm going to be fine. Plus I've got Shane to keep me company. Go," she said softly. "I know you want to be there so go, please." Mitchie pleaded and Connie's eyes softened.

"Well alright, I'll just wait here for the nurse to finish up and leave you in Shane's capable hands."

"And what about you Caitlyn?" Mitchie asked, turning to her friend who was standing beside her mother, a bemused expression on her face.

"Oh I'm going to class, I promise. But I'll stop by and check on you throughout the day, make sure jerky here isn't boring you out of your mind. But I'll tell the others to steer clear because you're sleeping alright?" Caitlyn asked and Mitchie nodded in relief.

"Thanks, you're the best."

"Don't you forget it."

Mitchie glanced at Caitlyn then before the two lapsed into a fit of giggles, they only stopped when Nurse Green spoke.

"And your ankle is wrapped!" Nurse Green said with a smile as she stepped back to admire her work before glancing up at the group surrounding Mitchie. "Now my dear, you're going to need to ice that ankle the second you're back in your cabin. The swelling's already going down but it'll help the process along. So ice and simple Tylenol should help the pain. And most importantly rest."

"Yes m'am," Mitchie replied with a grin. "Thanks for all your help."

"Anytime dear, though I do hope that this is your first and last visit to me this summer."

"No offense but so do I," Mitchie laughed and let out a slight yelp when she felt Shane's arms sliding under her once more. Though this time she actually let an arm wrap around his neck to steady herself. Her ankle was still throbbing but it definitely wasn't as bad as before. As soon as she got some Tylenol she'd be fine. And she was sure that having a day with Shane would make her forget all about it.

"She'll rest. I promise." She heard Shane reiterate as he scooped her into his arms again. "You can head out Connie and Caitlyn, I've got this one."

"Alright, I'll come check on you in a bit honey and Shane I'll send over some ice when I get back to the kitchen." Mitchie smiled and waved to her mother as she headed out the door before turning her attentions to Caitlyn. The girl was standing at the doorway, holding the wooden door open for them all, smirking all the same.

"You know, you two look cute like that," she remarked and Mitchie felt a blush rising as Shane got her out the door and into the actual Camp.

"Shush Caitlyn," she remarked as her friend just smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Just a statement, but I'm heading to keyboarding class now, I'll check on you during lunch mmkay?"

"Sure thing Caitlyn."

"Have fun today." The petite girl sing-songed as she walked away and Mitchie just smiled before turning her eyes to meet Shane's gaze.

"Shall we?" she asked and he chuckled and nodded.

"I need you to point the way Mitch. I don't know where your cabin is."

She grinned and pointed towards the center of Camp, where the Mess Hall was located.

"We're behind the Mess Hall, kind of out of the way but close enough to where Mom needs to be," she told him and he smiled.

"Perfect, I won't have to worry about being mauled."

"Well let's get going then." Shane chuckled and instantly set off towards the Mess Hall, and Mitchie felt herself smiling the entire way because this day was actually turning out to be a really good one. Sure her ankle was kind of bad right now, but she was with a friend, a good friend. Yes, this was going to be a good day indeed.

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**AN: Feedback is very much appreciated. **

**Also, I've got a poll going on my profile and I'd love some feedback on that. You see, recently I wrote a one-shot that focused on Tess' character titled "Beautifully Broken" and I really enjoyed doing it. So I've decided to do it with the rest of the CR characters as well. I just need some input as to who should be next! Thanks for reading and voting!**

**OH and today is Kevin Jonas' 21st b-day, a happy birthday to him as well!**


	9. Inner Musings to Outer Actions

**Disclaimer: Mmmk if I owned Camp Rock that would also mean that I own Disney. If I owned Disney I would not be a poor college student and I would also have access to the Jonas Brothers. As of now, I'm still a poor college student and have no access to the Jonas Brothers. So, I own nothing!**

**AN: I'm sorry it's been awhile all but school has been kicking my butt recently. However I worked on this for a good week for you lovelies because all of you seriously rock. Your reviews make me smile so much. Now just to warn you, I've got finals coming up and I really must focus on passing them so this may be the last chapter you get for a couple weeks. Now, I may be able to get something done over Thanksgiving Break but I make no promises. So I apologize but hey after finals I can write a lot. And now…enough notes..on with the story!**

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If anyone had come up to him upon his arrival at Camp Rock and told him that his summer would consist of discovering a talented girl who was quickly earning a place in his heart, Shane Grey would've laughed in their faces. He'd of called them crazy and had them committed to a psych ward because he never in a million years had he expected that this summer would have consisted of him finding a girl, a friend, and a crush all wrapped into one person; the girl currently being carried in his arms. No, Shane hadn't expected Mitchie Torres in the slightest but she was here and rapidly entering every single part of his being. He also hadn't expected to be carrying Mitchie across the camp and back to her cabin because of an injury.

But here he was, all of the above things happening and he really and honestly found that he didn't mind this turn of events. Taking Mitchie back to her cabin held the promise of an entire afternoon spent in her company, all alone, of talking, having that connection all over again with her. Oh yes, this afternoon had possibilities and Shane liked it a lot and having Mitchie in his arms just increased that like. He honestly couldn't help but notice that she fit in his arms perfectly, that she was east to carry, and that he really really like having her there. Well, if Shane was being completely honest with himself, he really just liked Mitchie. As in, the little crush he'd been developing since yesterday afternoon was rapidly turning into something much more when it came to Mitchie and he really wasn't sure that he wanted to stop it right now. In fact, Shane was quite sure that he liked the feelings running through him.

He'd liked it ever since he'd first realized this was more than a crush in his dance class. He'd come in late, despite Mitchie's earlier speech, he'd decided to make an entrance. He'd wanted to show his class exactly who was in charge of them but instead of making an entrance he'd walked in on a scene. A scene that had involved Mitchie and that Tess girl, a scene that had sparked something within him, a hint at his feelings. Why you may ask? Well because in that instant, Shane hadn't wanted to make an impression, all he'd wanted to do was help Mitchie. She'd looked so uncomfortable and disturbed and that had bothered him. So he'd done his best to help her, something very un-Shane like, but it was worth it. He'd helped her and he'd loved doing it. He'd loved seeing the relief in her eyes at his intervening; he liked knowing that she was all right again because of him.

The second clue in his feelings was the fact that he'd worried about Mitchie since he'd walked in on that scene. In fact, he'd half considered asking her if she was alright during class but he'd refrained from doing so in lieu of finding out later when they were alone. But then he'd actually had to teach his class and watch Mitchie dance.

That was clue number three for Shane. When he'd split the class into groups in order to see their progress he'd had a very hard time on shifting his attention away from Mitchie. She'd looked absolutely adorable trying to figure the steps out and then when she got them she looked downright sexy with the way her body moved. He'd had to compliment her in her group, because really she'd looked good doing it.

Then Shane had gotten his fourth clue as to his feelings for Mitchie Torres when she'd fallen to the floor. No, correction, she hadn't fallen to the floor, Mitchie had been pushed there. But at the time his brain hadn't really comprehended what his eyes had seen. No, all he'd registered was the fact that Mitchie had taken a spill and the fact that he'd had a mini heart attack in the process. He hadn't been able to get over to her fast enough when it had happened but he'd practically sprinted the length of the room in order to get to her side. He remembered being relieved when she'd gotten him to help her up but the panic had returned the very second she'd fallen back into his arms. The tears in her eyes had caused sadness in him that he hadn't really ever felt before. In that moment Shane had wanted nothing more than to just sink to the ground with her and make it all better, to make the tears stop, to put a smile on her face. He'd wanted to that; his heart had been screaming at him to do so but his mind had forced him to do something else. No, instead of being a comforter Shane had switched himself into action mode because he'd needed to make Mitchie better in that moment. It had been priority number one to get the tears to stop and her smiling.

And it was that clue that had really jolted his thoughts in regards to her. He'd never had one person's obvious distress affect him in the way that hers had. With Mitchie he'd just wanted to make her pain go away, to hold her. He hadn't cared about anyone else in that moment and that had forced him into an action mode to get her some help and to get everyone else in the class going at the time it happened. He'd turned into a task-master and after seeing the exact state of Mitchie's ankle he'd taken immediate action.

That was how he'd ended up in the position that he was now in, carrying her in his arms after getting the Nurse to check her out. Relief continued to wash over him now that he knew she would be just fine and excitement was beginning to replace the relief because the closer he they got to her cabin, the sooner they'd be alone. But in all honesty it was more of a nervous excitement than anything else because now that he knew about his feelings for Mitchie Torres he had no idea what to do about the. Normally he didn't have problems with girls, because he simply avoided them aside from the occasional hook-up. But Mitchie wasn't a hook-up, no, Mitchie was different; she was nice, kind, and got him in ways no one ever had. She was a friend; someone didn't want to hurt if he could help it. This meant having absolutely, positively, no idea on how to act with his feelings because they were different; just like she was. Hell, he didn't even know if there was a possibility of her liking him back.

"Shane?"

Her soft voice jolted him from his inner musings and he glanced down to find Mitchie's doe brown eyes looking up into his. They'd been silent for a while now, but once again it had been comfortable silence because somehow they'd managed to sense that the other needed to think.

"What's up Mitch? The ankle?" he asked, automatically shifting into his concerned mode, but his heart jumped as she just giggled and shook her head.

"No, it's all right for the moment," she told him. "But if you keep walking we're going to end up in the woods."

His gaze shot upwards at her words and he saw that Mitchie was indeed correct. They were just about to reach the edge of the camp and the last of the cabins.

"Sorry," he said quickly, looking back down at her to give a smile. "Got lost in my thoughts again."

"It's ok, I did the same," she told him with a grin and Shane just gave a laugh.

"So…right or left?" he asked, stopping his movements when he came to the last of the cabins.

"Take a right," she instructed, pointing to a nearby wooden structure. "It's right behind the kitchen."

He nodded and then turned them and headed towards the aforementioned cabin. The sooner he got her in that cabin, the sooner they could talk, hopefully without getting lost in their thoughts. He managed to reach the cabin in minutes and quickly got them up the stairs and to the door.

"Can you repeat what you did at the nurses door?" he asked her and she immediately nodded, not even needing a reminder of how they'd gotten the door open there. He knelt down then and her hand went out to get the handle; the door opened effortlessly.

"We're getting good at this," he mentioned and she laughed as he kicked the door open wide and got them into her cabin.

"Yay, there's something I'm good at," she told him with a laugh and he frowned. Shane knew that she meant it as a joke but he didn't like it because it was a put down on her and the amazing person she was.

"Mitchie," he said with a sigh. "Don't say things like that. You're good at a lot of things."

She blushed, and he felt a smile form on his lips as she turned her eyes away from his. He knew he wasn't really used to this kind of attention but he was intent on getting her to believe in her talents before this summer was over.

"You can put me down on that bed," she mumbled, pointing towards the bed closest to the door. His legs immediately complied with her request and he walked over to the intended destination and bent down to gently put Mitchie down on her bed. She wriggled out of his arms and with great effort he pulled himself away, he'd really liked having her in his arms but he had to pull away to avoid her asking questions. So he did, though he couldn't quite ignore the empty feeling that was now present in his arms, but he forced it down and stared down at her, watching as she adjusted herself on the bed.

There was silence between them then and for the first time it felt slightly awkward to him. He had no idea as to why but to him it seemed as though neither had anything to say. At least he didn't have an idea as to what he should say right now. But luckily, Mitchie seemed to get over the silence first,

"So," she began. "Are you just going to stand there all day?"

"No," he said with a grin. "Just waiting for you to tell me where I'm allowed to sit," he replied as he watched her eyes widen in realization.

"Oh!" she told exclaimed quickly. "You can umm pull the desk chair over, or sit on my mom's bed, or I can even scoot over." She offered, attempting to do just that before she stopped to wince at the sudden movement. That wince that had his eyes immediately going down to her ankle and had his brain shifting into action mode yet again. Before he could get himself settled with her, he had to get Mitchie situated with that ankle.

Frowning he glanced around the room and quickly reached to the bed beside Mitchie's, one he assumed to be her mothers, and grabbed a pillow from it. He doubted that Connie would have a problem with it as he turned back to Mitchie and leaned down over her ankle.

"Shane?" she asked and he glanced up at her with a grin.

"Calm down," he said softly. "I'm just going to prop your ankle up ok?"

He watched her nod and then quickly turned back to her leg, one hand gently lifting while the other slid the pillow underneath her ankle before setting it back down. He made sure her ankle was properly placed and then turned his gaze back to her own. "Better now?" he asked and she nodded.

"Much," she said. "Are you going to sit now?"

"No," he replied. "I'm going to get you some ice now and save your mom a trip here," he explained and he moved away from her and towards the door to her cabin. "Be right back."

"Promise?" she asked and he just grinned and nodded in response.

"Promise, now stay still and I'll be right back," he ordered before hurrying out the door and heading to the kitchen. He was grateful that he still remembered where the kitchen was in this camp as well as for the short distance to said kitchen. This meant he could avoid being stared at and get there all the faster to get Mitchie her ice.

He reached the aforementioned kitchen in a record three minutes and began to make his way up the steps but was stopped when he saw Connie Torres emerge from the kitchen with her arms full.

"Shane." He smiled when she did, he really did like Mitchie's mother. "What are you doing over here? Is Mitchie alright?"

He immediately nodded to that question, wanting to calm the obvious concern in her voice down.

"She's fine m'am. I just came to get her some ice before you had to make a trip there," he explained as he glanced down to see that Connie indeed had ice and pain killers in her hands. "But it looks like you have me beat on the getting stuff for her."

"Well I decided that the sooner she got it, the faster that ankle gets better."

"Good idea," he chuckled. "I get the feeling that Mitchie doesn't like being cooped up like she is."

"You'd be right on that one," Connie replied with a grin. "She's worked too hard to get herself to this camp, is working hard to continue being here, and she's not about to let herself not enjoy the experience. Music is her life."

Shane smiled at the obvious affection in her voice, something he hadn't heard from a mother in quite some time. Yes his mother loved him; he just never got to see her because of his crazy schedule. The fact that he lived on the other side of the country away from her didn't help matters either.

"I know it is Connie. When we were talking last night it was obvious," he told her, the smile on his face growing as he thought of that fateful conversation. "And she's got real talent. I really think that she could make it in the music business."

"Really?" Connie asked, and he felt a grin spread across his face at the smile on hers.

"I think so. She's got the talent, she just needs to realize it and get some confidence," he told her.

"Well Shane," Connie began. "I think that if anyone can give that confidence to her..you can." His eyes widened in shock at her words and confusion at the laughter that followed them as she just looked at him.

"Shane, I'm being serious. My daughter likes you, she trusts you and that's not something Mitchie does easily. So I really think that you might be the key to getting her the confidence she needs. You're good for her." Shane felt his shock just grow just a bit more at her words. Mitchie's mother really believed that he was good for her daughter, that he could help her, she believed in it. No one had ever said something like that to him before and he felt unbelievably humbled at her words.

"She's good for me too Connie," he responded softly. "She makes me….different. Around her I'm less of a jerk. She gets me in ways that no one ever has and please don't think I'm crazy but I think…I think I like your daughter as more than a friend." His gaze nervously shot up to meet Connie's appraising one as he started questioning his own sanity. Why would he, Shane Grey, tell the mother of the girl he liked how he felt? Especially when said mother barely knew him and what he was like outside the limelight. Yes, he was crazy and when she said absolutely nothing to him he started doing something that was really quite foreign to him; ramble.

"What I mean to say is that well..yes I like your daughter but I wouldn't actually do something about it. She doesn't even like me in that way so really there's nothing to worry about I-"

"Shane calm down." He looked at Connie then and was surprised to find her simply smiling at him, not shooting daggers. "It's ok to like Mitchie."

His eyes widened at her words and his heart seemed to stop for a moment. That comment was unexpected, really unexpected, what mother had ever said that to him before?

"Really?" he asked, needing confirmation on the matter.

"Yes. I told you this morning: Mitchie trusts you so I'm going to trust her judgment. I know you've had some problems but they seem to be getting better," she said with a pointed look. He immediately nodded in confirmation, this was good. Really good, if Connie liked him then maybe she could help him with Mitchie. And in the future, if something did happen with Mitchie, having Connie on his side could help infinitely with Mitchie's father. He paused as that thought ran across his brain; he shouldn't be thinking things like this. Mitchie didn't even like him in that way but still it didn't stop him from reassuring her mother that he was changing.

"I promise it's getting better Connie. Mitchie has no problems pointing out when I'm being a jerk. Like I said…she's good for me."

"And I wouldn't expect anything less from my daughter," Connie said with a laugh. "But that's beside the point. What I want to say is this: I'm really ok with you liking Mitchie and if by chance something were to happen with those feelings I would be ok with it."

"You would?" Shane asked, ridiculously surprised at this sort of blessing for a relationship that he was really starting to want.

"I would be," Connie repeated. "Again, I trust Mitchie so I'll trust you. I realize that you're older than her but you seem like a gentlemen," she put emphasis on the last word and once again he was nodding like crazy.

"I am," he responded quickly. "I will be. I respect your daughter."

"As you should. I just ask that you keep me in the loop," she said with another pointed look.

"Of course," he said before the logical side of his brain finally decided to kick in. "But Connie, you really don't have to worry about that because Mitchie doesn't like me in that way. To her I'm just a new friend and that's all," he explained.

"Oh I wouldn't be so sure about that one," Connie responded with a smile.

"And why not?" he asked and she chuckled.

"Because I know my daughter. She likes you. Last night she couldn't stop talking about you and whenever I mentioned or asked a question about you last night she just couldn't stop smiling. I've never seen her react that way about a boy before. She likes you. Trust me."

Shane felt his breathing stop at her words. Did he dare to hope that Mitchie could possibly like him back? Her mother seemed to think that she did and her mother really did know her, so maybe it was true. But did he have a chance? And if so what should he do about it? He could make a move or keep his mouth shut. This was one time where he really wasn't sure about his next move. He needed to think about it, he knew what he wanted to do but had no idea if he actually should.

"Shane?"

Connie's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he was immediately focused on her again. He saw that she was holding the items in her arms out to him and he took them without even thinking. The ice packs now in his arms caused him to shiver slightly but he shook it off. He could take a few minutes of cold to bring this stuff to Mitchie.

"Now you've just got the one ice pack but that should hold you until lunch," Connie explained. "I'll bring another one when I bring you two lunch in a couple hours ok?" she asked and nodded. "Now the only thing I have with me is Tylenol but that should take the pain away for awhile. Make sure Mitchie takes two and no more," she instructed.

"Yes m'am. Two Tylenol and no more," he repeated as he glanced down at the bottle.

"Now why don't you get back to Mitchie before she thinks you got lost and that ice pack melts anymore?" Connie suggested with a smile.

"Anything else I need to know before I go?"He asked and she shook her head.

"Nope, you should be good now. Just have a good day with her and remember I'm trusting you and her." Connie emphasized the word trust and Shane could've sworn that his cheeks were going red at the way she said it. He understood now that this was his one chance to prove himself to her mother, to show that he could indeed be trusted around Mitchie and he was determined to show her that she could indeed do that.

"Thanks Connie, I'll see you in a couple hours." She smiled and waved him off and before Shane knew it his legs were carrying him back to the cabin where Mitchie was currently awaiting his return. He'd been gone for longer than he thought possible but hopefully she wouldn't be too angry at him for it. His mind paused at the thought of Mitchie angry, something he really hadn't seen yet. Annoyance he'd gotten a taste of last night and he hadn't liked making her annoyed. He wouldn't like making her angry at him, so it was with that thought that he sped his pace up and speed-walked back to Mitchie's cabin.

He got there in mere seconds and quickly headed up the steps and shifted the things in his hands so he could better open the door and get back inside to Mitchie.

"I'm back," he announced, glancing around the room to find that Mitchie was still on the bed. However, there were two things that had changed about Mitchie in his absence. One, she had somehow changed into sweat pants and was now sitting up, bad ankle still propped up, and two she was furiously writing something down in her songbook. In fact she seemed so wrapped up in what she was writing that she hadn't even noticed his return. Smiling at the sight of her Shane quietly closed the door behind him and moved in towards her. He thought that she looked beautiful like this, in comfortable clothes just writing her heart out and hopefully he could hear what she was working on at some point today. But for now, he wanted to get this ice on her ankle and the pain killers in her body.

"Mitch," he said as he reached the edge of the bed. Still he got no reaction from her, she really got into her songwriting when it came down to it and he thought that the entire scene was adorable. It was also quite remarkable to watch because this really showed what an artist Mitchie was, what she could be. He really was tempted to just let her at it, but he couldn't hold this ice pack forever. It was freezing his hand and it was starting to get that condensation on the outside. Plus, Mitchie's ankle needed it to help get the swelling down. "Mitchie," he said again, this time yelling. He watched as she finally noticed him and her body jumped at the sound of his voice. He cringed just a bit because he felt bad for scaring her, but it was for a good reason.

"Shane!" Her voice rang through his head and his eyes finally met her gaze and he grinned when he saw the smile on her face. "When did you get back? I didn't even hear the door."

"Well you were really wrapped up in writing in that songbook of yours," he told her, smiling when her face tinted red just slightly. "Hey, don't be embarrassed by it. I think it's great that you were so inspired," he told her. "Any chance I'll get to hear it?" he asked and she immediately closed the songbook in her lap and clamped her arms across the cover.

"I guess that's a no?" he asked with a chuckle as she just nodded her head. He inwardly rolled his eyes at her obvious attempts to not want him to see something he'd coax out of her later but for now he'd acknowledge her wants. For now, he'd let it slide. "Fine," he said. "You win this round."

She grinned then and quickly moved, wincing just slightly as she put her songbook on the bedside table and set her pen on top of it before turning back to him. "So what took you so long? You were definitely gone for more than a couple minutes."

"Oh, you're mom and I got to talking," he explained and he almost laughed as he saw her eyes widen at the response.

"About what?"

"Stuff," he said with a grin and this time he did laugh when her eyes widened and her face turned red.

"That isn't an answer," she explained slowly.

"Oh yes it is," he said with a smirk before he finally decided that the ice in his hand was getting entirely too cold for his liking. "Oh stop worrying Mitchie, it was nothing bad," he soothed as he walked over to a side of the bed so he could put the ice pack on her ankle.

"What are you doing?" she asked and he looked up at her with a smile. "I brought your ice, just like I said I would. Now brace yourself, it's cold," he warned as he slowly set the ice pack upon her ankle. Mitchie let out a gasp at the contact but said nothing as he made sure the ice was firmly in place before looking up to find her wincing just slightly. "What's wrong?" he asked quickly.

"Nothing, it's just cold," she explained. "But it'll be fine."

"Want me to get you a blanket?" he asked and she shook her head.

"Nah I'm good for now. Are you actually going to sit down now?"

"In a second," he said with a chuckle as he finally held the Tylenol bottle out to her. "Take this and get two out of the bottle. I'm going to get you a cup of water."

Mitchie gingerly took the bottle offered to her and immediately popped it open as he went to the bathroom and grabbed a cup from beside the sink and filled it up before heading back out to her. He laughed when he saw her sitting there, pills in her hand, bottle on the table, a smile on her face as she reached her free hand out for the water.

"Eager are we?" he asked as he handed it off and she simply nodded and took her pills quickly before putting the water on the table and looking up at him expectantly.

"Sit," she said softly scooting herself over and patting the spot beside her. Shane felt his eyebrows raise at where she wanted him, but he wouldn't say anything. He liked that she wanted him closer to her because he wanted that. He said nothing, just walked over to the other side of her bed so she wouldn't have to move her ankle and finally let himself sit down opposite her.

"You can put your feet up if you want," she offered. "Just take your shoes off first," she ordered and he chuckled before nodding. He kicked the sneakers he'd been wearing off and moved to scoot up and sit by her, but he hesitated, unsure if that's what she wanted him to do and she instantly smiled at him and nodded.

"Come on, there's plenty of room left up here on the pillows and I promise I don't bite," she said with a grin and he chuckled and nodded before crawling up and settling against the pillows carefully. His heart was racing a mile a minute as he finally realized that Mitchie Torres was sitting beside him on her bed, and looking at him. He wondered if she could hear his heart racing, wondered if she was possibly reading his mind as he thought about how well beautiful she was beside him.

"So," she began. "Now that these pain killers are kicking in, what do you want to talk about?" she asked slowly.

"Hmmm," he began. He really was at a loss for words right now. His mind was still reeling from the fact that she was beside him and wow did she smell good. "What didn't we get to last night?"

"I have no idea," she responded with a laugh as she attempted to shift herself beside him. He watched her with a frown and realized that he was taking up a good portion of the space she'd occupied earlier.

"Do you want me to move?" he asked. "This can't be comfortable for you."

"No, don't move," she told him. "I, well I like having you next to me. You're keeping me warm," she added in what seemed to be an afterthought. He had to smile at the words and with very little thinking he decided to help her get more comfortable and warmer in the process. Slowly, so he wouldn't startle her with his action; he moved his left arm and wrapped it around her shoulders. He felt her tense up just a bit and he prayed that she wouldn't turn him away, or feel the pounding of his heart. He didn't know why he was so nervous but he was yet all he wanted to do was touch her, in a completely appropriate ways of course.

They were both tense for a few more moments but the second she relaxed into his touch he felt himself relaxing against her. Sure his heart was still racing a mile a minute but if she could be ok with this than he could be ok with this. He had done this for her after all.

"Ok?" he asked, just to be sure and she glanced up at him with a smile and nod.

"It's ok, thanks," she said and he felt himself smiling again. A smile that only widened when she leaned herself into his embrace, and he noticed that once again, she fit against him perfectly.

"So," she said. "Talk?"

"About anything you want," he responded.

"Hmmm what about your family? I mean we talked about where you're from, but not about your family," she said. "Tell me about your parents, do you have siblings? Grandparents?" she asked and he laughed. His family was a subject that he could definitely talk about. He may not be in contact with them all that much but his parents were important to him.

"Curious today are we Miss Torres?" he asked and she blushed at the question but nodded all the same.

"You tell me about your family I tell you about mine," she enticed and he chuckled.

"Now how can I resist an offer like that? I think I have to tell you now," he said with a grin. "Now, my family..hmm where to start."

"Your parents are a good place," she suggested and he had to admit that he was surprised at the sarcasm in her voice. He hadn't expected that from Mitchie of all people, but hey she was constantly surprising him, why should now be any different?

"I think the lady is right," he responded. "Now my parents, my parents, are named Jim and Karen. My dad is almost fifty and my mom will never ever tell me how old she really is. All's I know is that she's been forty for the past few years." He stopped when Mitchie giggled and listened to the sound, he loved it when she did that and he loved that he was the cause of it.

"Go on," she ordered with a firm poke to his chest. "I know there's more than that."

"There is," he said. "My parents got divorced when I was thirteen but it wasn't messy or violent or anything. I know it wasn't my fault and I know that they both love me and they still care about each other. They're just friends now. It's really not that bad. I mean when I was younger I spent alternate weeks with the both of them but we still did stuff together as a family, had vacations, went out. My parents just didn't live together anymore. I mean we all still do holidays together because they both like being involved in my life."

"Wow. Shane that's amazing," Mitchie said and he nodded.

"Yeah my parents are pretty awesome. My mom explained it to me once: she said that both her and my father decided that fighting wouldn't do any good for me or their relationship with me so they made the effort. I'm lucky," he said with a smile. "Really lucky."

"So did either of your parents remarry?" she asked and he nodded.

"Yeah my dad remarried when I was sixteen, just before the guys and I got our record deal. And my step-mom is well she's alright I guess," he replied slowly. In all honesty Shane was not entirely too fond of his step-mother, he thought that she was a snob and her attitude around him always made him shudder. But his dad loved her, so he tried to get along with her, really he did, but he was thankful that they lived on opposite sides of the country sometimes.

"You guess?" Mitchie asked and he nodded.

"Laura is kind of a snob; her attitude irks me a lot when I'm around her but my dad loves her so I try to like her. I mean I owe my dad that much right?" he asked and Mitchie looked at him in surprise.

"Shane that's really sweet of you, who knew you had such a big heart?" she teased and he just chuckled.

"Hey my parents deserve it for all the crap they put up with because of the recording. And I had a good upbringing so I owe them."

"Well what about your mom? Has she remarried?"

"Nope, she says she's content to date for the rest of her life and that is just fine with me as long as she tells me nothing about it." Mitchie laughed as he shuddered against her. "Don't you laugh at me, you wouldn't want to know about your parent's sex life would you?" he asked and then she was the one shuddering again.

"Point taken now never mention that again."

"Deal," he told her. "Anything else you want to know?" he asked.

"Hmmm tell me everything about your family," she told him and this time, without any hesitation he began telling her about his family life.

About a half an hour later, or maybe it was more, Shane couldn't be sure, he finally stopped talking. He was absolutely certain that by now, Mitchie knew everything there was to know about his family. She knew that he was an only child, that his mother had lived out in LA with him for almost two years when he'd first started recording because he'd been underage. She knew that his mother now lived back in New York because she was a New Yorker at heart and couldn't be transformed into a West Coaster like himself. Mitchie knew that his father and step-mother lived twenty minutes away from his mother that his father worked at some big law firm in the city. She knew that both sets of his grandparents were still alive and lived respectively in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania. Basically, Mitchie Torres knew even more about him today than she did yesterday and he was really ok with that. He liked that she knew about his family, he liked that he could tell her about his family, he just well he really liked her.

"Is it hard living in LA? Away from everyone?"

Her voice rang through his thoughts and he looked down at her with a grin.

"Not really, I love LA. It's where life is at for me. I miss my parents but I have my life now. And if I get lonely I have the guys there. I mean we share a house together so it's not like I'm ever alone."

"As long as you're happy there," she told him. "I wouldn't like to know that you're not."

"Mitch, I'm happy, seriously. I love living in LA. I love the life I'm lucky enough to get to have. I love that I share that life with my two best friends. I just don't love the kind of crap music we're forced to play."

"Understandable," she replied and he was surprised when she curled herself into his chest. So far all she'd been doing is leaning against his arm, but now her body was flush against his and oh boy was he reacting. Once more, she fit perfectly and he tried to keep his heart from breaking out of his chest.

"So enough about me, let's hear about your family," he suggested quickly, anything to get his brain off of the fact that Mitchie Torres, the girl he liked, had her head on his chest of all places.

"What do you want to know?" she asked, picking her head up just slightly and looking up at him.

"Well I know your mom and she's awesome, but what about your dad?"

"Oh my dad is great. He owns a hardware store in San Fran and it's doing pretty well for the moment. Let's see.." she trailed off and thought about what more to say. "His mother, my abuela, came to the United States from Mexico with my grandfather, my abuelo and they settled in San Francisco and had my dad. He's an only child, so no aunts and uncles on that side but my grandparents live about a half an hour away from us now."

Shane officially decided that he loved it when Mitchie spoke Spanish. The way her voice took on an accent, how she pronounced it, it was all very very sexy. He needed to get her to speak it more often so he could imprint it in his brain.

"What about your mother's family?"

"My mother comes from a big family. She lived in New Mexico for most of her life but came to California to go to college; it's how she met my dad. But her parents always lived in the United States and she has three brothers and one sister. So I have lots and lots of cousins."

"How many is a lot?" he asked and she grinned.

"Twelve," she responded as if it were natural. "Seven boys and five girls."

"Younger or older?"

"Six are older than me, two are the same age, and four are younger."

"Tell me about them," he coaxed, now actually curious as to how she put up with that kind of craziness in her family.

And so they killed another half an hour. But this time all he did was listen to Mitchie talk about her family only interrupting to ask an occasional question here and there. He was now fairly certain that he knew just as much about Mitchie's family as she did about his. He knew that both of her parents spoke fluent Spanish and had raised her in a bi-lingual household. He knew that of her cousins, four of them were die-hard Connect Three fans while the rest could care less. He knew that she was semi-afraid of her abuela and her criticisms but loved her abeulo more than anything. He knew that her mother's family still lived in New Mexico and she only saw them on holidays. He pretty much knew everything there was to know about Mitchie Torres' family at that was just fine with him. He'd already made a mental note to buy a Spanish book when he got the chance and he was quite content with all the knowledge she'd bestowed upon him.

The two of them had stopped talking about five minutes ago and had lapsed into a comfortable silence again. Mitchie's head was now comfortably lying against his chest and he'd actually gotten up the nerve to drop his arm from around her shoulders to put it dangerously close to her waist. He was sorely tempted to just pull her even closer to him but that would be wrong, he'd probably scare her with the action and that was something he didn't want in the slightest.

In this moment he was really just content to have her so comfortable with him, so open with touching and not freaking out. The spark that he so often felt around her was there, but this time he was kind of letting it settle, so it wasn't so shocking. Or maybe he was just getting used to it by now, after all, it happened whenever he saw her, not just when they touched. Yes in this moment, that spark was merely simmering and Shane Grey was contemplating as he stared at the ceiling. He really wanted to say something to Mitchie about his feelings. He knew he liked her and he kind of got a vibe that maybe she could like him too. But he was so damn nervous about it. He'd never felt this way before and he didn't know how to act, Mitchie was so different and he felt that maybe they could have something special, maybe. But they had to try first and to try, he had to ask her how she felt, had to confess to her and those thoughts were terrifying. Completely and utterly terrifying to him. So really he was at a crossroads in this moment, tell Mitchie today, while he was alone with her, or just let it go and try to get over it. The only problem was he didn't know which road he should take.

"Tell me something you've never told anyone before." Her voice startled him out of his thoughts and her question even more so. Tell her something he'd never told anyone before? Now that was something to think about, what could he tell her? Nate and Jason knew almost everything about him, what didn't they know?

"Shane?" her voice cut through his thoughts again and he glanced down to find her head propped up again, eyes on his face and he smiled. "Did you hear me?"

"I did, I'm just thinking about what to tell you," he responded before he finally came up with something that he could tell her. He just had to make sure of one thing first. "Alright, before I tell you, do you swear upon all that is holy and sacred that you will never utter this to anyone else? Not even Nate and Jason?"

She nodded instantly. "I promise, not a word to anyone," she reiterated and he took a breath before he let his confession unleash. This really was something that no one else knew about him, something he'd never even considered telling anyone before Mitchie, but she'd asked, and he found that he had to answer. Mitchie was just that endearing.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered. "I've never been in love before," he told her, his eyes meeting her gaze that seemed to widen in shock at the confession.

"Really? I would've thought that, well, I mean don't girls just throw themselves at you?" she asked and he chuckled darkly.

"Yes they do, but all of them are just video girls, the kind that want to be in the limelight but don't want the actual relationship. They want the fame and they're all insane and I'm not into that. So I steer clear of them. Which means I haven't been in a relationship for awhile and I've definitely never been in love before," he told her and he had to admit the softness that just came into her gaze just made him melt. Oh boy, he was really and truly into Mitchie Torres, this, well he thought it was good. She definitely wasn't a video girl, she was nice and sweet, but did he deserve her? Probably not. Did he want her? Absolutely. Was he going to do something about it today? He had yet to decide.

"I'm sorry Shane. That's not right; a guy like you deserves someone special to share his life with."

"Hey it's no biggie, I've always been too busy for a girlfriend anyways," he said, and then quickly cursed himself. He shouldn't have said that, especially if he wanted a chance with Mitchie. He needed to prove to her that he could be the boyfriend type of material she was entitled too. The kind she deserved. "Well, I mean," he began. "I've never met anyone that I was willing to work for you know? I mean yes my schedule is hectic but if that person were special enough, I'd make time for them."

"Understandable," she responded with a smile. "And good to know that once again you have a bigger heart than you let on. You just need to find someone to share that heart with."

_I think I already have._ The thought flashed across his mind and he couldn't help but think that he was right. Mitchie was someone he'd gladly work for; make time for, and someone he'd perfectly willing to share his heart with. "Yeah," he said. "I'll find someone. I mean after all, she could be right in front of me for all I know."

He watched her face for a reaction and wasn't surprised to find her face turning that all too familiar shade of pink. This was why he was hesitating in telling her anything, he didn't want her to feel embarrassed, he wanted her to want what he did and what he wanted now was to get the conversation away from him. Maybe if he got her talking he could read more of her thoughts and feelings. There was a plan, he could get her talking.

"Hey now, enough about me," he said quickly. "I think you should tell me something that you've never told anyone before."

"Oh really?" she asked and he nodded.

"It's only fair Mitch. I confessed something about myself to you so you can do the same right?"

"I guess."

"You guess? Mitch you know you can tell me anything. I'm not going to make fun of you or anything."

"I know, but if I tell you, it's just embarrassing," she told him. "No correction it's just sad."

"What is?" he questioned, and then she was blushing again. "Come on it can't be as bad as mine."

"Oh yes it can be. No it can be worse," she told him, her face turning an even deeper shade of pink than before. "But fine I'll tell you." She paused to take a breath and turned her gaze away from him. "I've never been kissed."

The words were mumbled, so much so that Shane had to strain to hear them and even when he did he could feel his brain start to turn at what she'd told him. Mitchie had never been kissed. The thought alone had him in shock and quite frankly he was appalled. Mitchie was a beautiful girl and it was crime that a beauty such as her had never been kissed.

"Are you serious?" he asked and he flinched just a bit when she looked up at him with a glare, her face still red as ever.

"Yes I'm being serious and yes I know it's pathetic. I'm sixteen years old and I've never been kissed, never had a boyfriend, and it's…it's sad," she mumbled and he was instantly thinking of ways to convince her otherwise. He wanted to analyze the statement because really he found it baffling that Mitchie had never been kissed but he couldn't analyze when she was obviously embarrassed and upset.

"No, Mitch it's not sad. You just haven't found the right guy to give that to you yet," he tried to reason and she shook her head.

"No, it's because guys don't notice me. I'm not blonde, not a cheerleader, and I'm invisible and un-kissable. And-"

"Mitchie stop it right now," he interrupted her. Shane had a feeling that her beginning of a rant was beginning to turn into a self-bashing party and he was not about to let Mitchie start in on that. No, she was beautiful and she was going to see that, she was kissable, very kissable, so much so that he wouldn't mind…he had to stop himself. He could not think about that now, he had to concentrate on making her see the light.

"But-"

"No buts, don't talk about yourself like that," he told her pointedly. "You're beautiful, and you can sing, play guitar, and the piano. That is sexier than any kind of cheerleader could ever be. You're kissable; you just haven't the guy who deserves to give you that special first kiss. And who wants a blonde? I prefer brunettes so much more." Shane immediately shut his mouth after that as he saw Mitchie's eyes widen. Had he really just said that out loud? This wasn't good, or was it? He wasn't sure and it was times like this where he wished that he could read minds, or at the very least Mitchie's mind. It would help him immensely at the moment.

"You like brunettes?" she asked quietly and he couldn't stop himself from nodding. Mitchie really had him under a spell.

"Yeah, I'm coming to find that they're so much better than blondes," he responded, just as softly as she had asked the questions. The mood between them had just shifted dramatically and he was sure that Mitchie had felt it as he had. It was strange, but somehow the atmosphere had shifted from sweet to tension filled in almost minutes. Shane couldn't explain it but he liked it, he liked feeling the tension because it meant they really had chemistry together. Maybe it meant she felt the same way because she was looking at him with an almost hopeful expression on her face. Maybe he could take a chance right now.

"W-what caused the shift in opinion?" her question made him blink and he almost laughed at it. Mitchie was giving him an in and he so appreciated it. He was starting to think that her mother was really right about the feelings, and he was also starting to think that maybe Mitchie was feeling just as confused as he was. That she wanted to confirm his feelings for her, well he could certainly help with that. Sighing he thought about his options in showing her and really decided that there was only one. Taking a breath he took the hand that wasn't holding onto Mitchie and slowly moved it up to where her head was resting against his chest. Gently he took one of his fingers and let it trace the outline of her cheek and he listened to Mitchie take a shaky breath but she kept her gaze on him. She was obviously trying very hard here and he was going to dignify her efforts with an answer. An answer that would probably tell her exactly what he was feeling towards her but Shane was deciding that he could confess. He hoped he could at least.

"Well you see I met this girl and she pretty much is changing a lot of things about me," he said and he felt her take another sharp intake of breath, but her gaze held. "See she's adorable, really shy, but she's incredibly talented," he told her slowly. "And not to mention beautiful and I haven't known her for very long but she's kind of got me going crazy. In a good way because I like her. A lot."

He stopped after that, he couldn't say anymore, he had to wait for Mitchie's reaction. For a few moments all that was present between them was silence. For a second he thought that maybe he'd read her emotions and reactions incorrectly. For a second he thought that all he was doing was making a fool out of himself but Mitchie surprised him. She reached up with a hand and grabbed the one that had a finger still tracing the side of her cheek and pulled his hand to her face. Shane froze for a second, this was unexpected but he could like it. Hell, he already liked it, and slowly, very slowly he cupped her face with his hand. His thumb ran along her cheek and Mitchie's eyes closed for a moment as he brushed said thumb across her oh so soft lips.

"Shane?" she asked quietly and their gazes met again.

"Yeah Mitch?"

"This girl, what if she likes you too?"

"Well that would pretty much make my life because I really really like her." She smiled then and he couldn't help himself from doing it back. This confession was going through way more smoothly than he'd ever hoped for. She liked him that was her confession, she liked him. Oh he could sing right now, maybe he would sing, after he got her to admit it was actually her. "Does she like me back?" he asked softly and he almost jumped for joy when she nodded.

"Yeah she does, a lot," she responded. "Shane?"

"Yes?" he asked almost entirely too quickly, he wanted to jump, scream, and shout right now because Mitchie Torres liked him. Really liked him, he could really do something about his feelings and she wouldn't think he was crazy. It was a miracle.

"Is this girl kissable?" Her question had him pausing. Was that her way of giving him a silent invitation? Of telling him to maybe just maybe be the guy lucky enough to give her that first kiss? He was honored that she wanted that experience to be with him, that she wanted him to be the one to do it, even if he wasn't sure if that's what she wanted. Well, there was only one way to find out, and if not, hopefully she stopped him, or he made it so she didn't want to stop.

"Oh yes, very much so," he responded, sliding his body down on the bed so that his head was even with hers. "In fact I think she's so kissable that I can't resist doing it." Taking one last breath and a leap of faith Shane slowly leaned his head towards Mitchie's, he had to give her time to stop this if she didn't want it. But so far she hadn't done anything. In fact, she was leaning in towards him, and after a few agonizing minutes his forehead was touching hers, his lips just inches from hers, he was so close to her and he loved it. He glanced into her eyes one last time and saw that there wasn't any hesitation there, just something else, he couldn't quite pinpoint it but it was something. He didn't stop to think about what it could be, no instead he leaned in just a little more and let his lips finally press against Mitchie's, slowly, cautiously, yet the second they met, Shane felt everything in the world right itself. Oh yes, this kiss with Mitchie Torres was going to be oh so perfect, he was sure of it, he would make it so.

XXX

**AN: Yes I know I'm evil. Thanks for reading and as always leave your thoughts. They seriously do brighten my day. And for those of you in the states have a lovely Thanksgiving! **


	10. Kiss, Kiss, Kiss

**Disclaimer: Nope I still don't own Camp Rock or its characters or the Jonas Brothers in any way shape or form. (But believe me I wish I did.)**

**AN: I am SO SO SO sorry that it has been so long since an update everyone. Let's just say that I hit a major streak of writers block and I just couldn't make this story happen for a while. BUT my inspiration is back and better than ever and I do hope you'll forgive me for the ridiculously long time it's been with this update and future ones to come. This story has a plan again! :) ****Again I am so sorry. I hope this is worth your wait.**

**AN 2: Also thank you SO MUCH for your reviews. They seriously make me smile. **

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In her entire sixteen years of existence Mitchie Torres could safely say that she never ever expected this. She never expected to be kissing a boy on her bed at music camp that she'd been dreaming attending for the better part of a year and she'd never expected to be kissing a boy she really liked. Mitchie Torres had never expected Shane Grey to be kissing her, really kissing her, as in there were his lips on hers and physically moving against hers. Shane Grey, the boy she liked was really kissing her, inside she was practically squealing and her heart was pounding at a ridiculously fast rate but she didn't care. Who needed to care about anything when Shane was kissing you?

And oh what a kiss it was. Well she really didn't have anything to compare it too but she was fairly certain that on a scale of one to ten this kiss was well an eleven. Except now her body was frozen against his because really she had no idea what to do with Shane. Never having been kissed before was leaving her at a great disadvantage but it wasn't all that bad; her lips were working and that was the most important part of a kiss right?

Shane was kissing her so slowly, so sweetly, that Mitchie was sure that she had died and gone to heaven because this felt so good. She noted that his lips were soft against hers, guiding her, leading her in this foreign dance that she was quickly falling in love with. It had taken her a few minutes to get the hang of what he was doing but she'd caught on after some hesitation. Now she and Shane were moving together, exploring, and oh god it felt good. Tingles were running up and down her spine and her head was spinning as her body remained frozen; still totally unsure about what it was supposed to be doing right now. But that was ok with her; they could work on that little problem, with more kissing; lots more kissing after this one ended.

That ending was one she never wanted to happen but unfortunately she felt the need for air beginning to surface within her brain and she told that need of hers to just shut up. Mitchie wanted to ignore it and keep kissing Shane; she didn't want to be the one to end this and fortunately she wasn't going to be forced too. Shane was the one that seemed to realize her need to breath and probably needed to do so himself and she was pleasantly surprised when he began to pull away. She didn't want him to leave her lips but the way he did was oh so pleasurable.

He started their separation by slowing his lips down against her own, coaxing her to fall into his steady rhythm. He then eased himself away by making his kisses become less frequent, a little hurried, and then he finally pulled himself away from her with a few quick pecks to the sides of her mouth, nothing too explosive, but passionate all the same. Shane didn't go far when they were finally disengaged, no he kept his body close to hers as their gazes met and the sound of their heavy breathing filled the once silent room. Mitchie couldn't be sure about what was louder, their ragged breathing of the wild beating of her heart. She was almost positive that Shane could hear the fast beat but she could care less. She was far too busy reveling in the fact that she had just experienced the best first kiss in the history of kisses. At least in her opinion it was, after all she was breathless, speechless, and her head was spinning; the marks of an amazing kiss. Not to mention the fact that she _felt_ like she could fly right now. Even if her breathing was calming down at the moment, she was flying high on endorphins of the most amazing kind.

Slowly, as she began to come down from said high Mitchie took her once dormant hand and brought it up to brush against her lips. She shivered because she could swear that she could still feel Shane there and every part of her being wanted him kissing her again and soon. Gently, slowly, wanting to savor the moment, she let her once still fingers trace over her lips. She found that they were indeed on fire and probably swollen from the amount of kissing they'd been doing but she didn't care. Mitchie pressed her lips together and nearly sighed in relief when she took in the unique taste of Shane that was still lingering there.

"Wow," she whispered, finally managing to find her voice again, keeping the volume of her voice down. She knew that she didn't have to, but this moment seemed entirely too intimate to interrupt with too much noise. But she wanted to talk to Shane about this and what it mean. She also now knew that she wanted to actually tell Shane how she felt about him. Mitchie Torres definitely and truly liked Shane and by some miracle he seemed to like to her too. At least she hoped he liked her just as much by the way he'd confessed earlier, by the way he'd kissed her. But she knew that he wouldn't be the one to force her to talk about this because he'd be afraid of making her to uncomfortable. This meant that she had to be the one to talk, to initiate, however much she didn't want to be that person, she had to be. She had to show him that she was serious about this. And she was; for the first time in her life Mitchie was serious about a guy, about telling him how she felt. She didn't know why Shane was the one she felt so strongly about, but there was just some sort of electricity between them. She couldn't ignore it, she wouldn't, and she'd had to show him that.

"Wow is right," Shane responded, his voice pitch matching the same whisper that she'd taken on just moments beforehand. "That was..."

"Amazing?" she supplied when he left it hanging. She was praying that she hadn't been bad at kissing him because he'd certainly been amazing at it.

"Well I was going to say mind blowing but amazing works too," he breathed out and Mitchie felt a smile begin to form on her lips. Those words coming out of his mouth meant that he'd liked that kiss, that he'd liked kissing her as much as she had enjoyed kissing him. Those words were a major confidence booster.

"You really thought it was amazing?" she asked quietly, even with the confidence she still needed some more confirmation. After all, he could be lying to her, so she decided to watch his face for his reaction. She was pleasantly surprised when he began to nod enthusiastically to the question before stopping and looking at her. He bit his lip after a few moments and his brows knitted as he stared at her.

"Did you like it?" he asked softly, finally finding the words he wanted to say. "I mean, you wanted me to kiss you right?" His eyes widened in sheer panic as he asked that question and Mitchie found herself in shock because of it. Shane hadn't panicked in the short time they'd known each other and now here he was doing it. Seeing it in his eyes was unnerving to say the least.

"I mean, I thought you wanted me to kiss you. Did I read the signs wrong?" he asked hurriedly. "If I did then I'm so so sorry. God, I should've asked. You didn't want it. That's why you were so stiff. Mitchie I'm so sorry. I-"

She cut Shane's ramble off by pressing one of the fingers that had been on her own lips against his own. She was honestly touched by his concern for her and what they'd done but she didn't want to hear him apologizing. Apologizing constituted that they'd done something wrong and they hadn't. Mitchie felt her mind lurch as she realized what this meant; ruining the once perfect after kiss moment so they could talk. They had to do it and she had to be the one to initiate it now that Shane was so concerned about her feelings. Great, this is just what she needed to do.

"Shane calm down," she soothed. "Please?" she asked softly and she let out a breath of relief when he nodded against her finger. She pulled it away slowly and then tentatively reached down and grabbed his hand, the one that was currently resting against her side and threaded her fingers with his. That familiar spark returned and she smiled even though her nerves were through the roof right now. She'd never started this kind of conversation off before, actually she never really started conversations in general but she had to do this one. So she took energy from the spark between them and used it to fuel her on. She could do this, she had to do this.

"I wanted you to kiss me Shane," she quietly reassured him. "I'm being serious. I wanted that kiss-kisses," she amended quickly, a blush rising to her face as she said it.

"But you were frozen and-"

"Did you ever think that maybe I was in shock?" she asked slowly, cursing herself as she felt her blush deepen.

"Shock?" he asked. "Why would you be in shock? I mean you said you wanted it so I thought..."

"Shane, I've never been kissed before," she reminded him. "I mean when you kissed me I had trouble believing that you were actually doing it, that you seemed to want to kiss me. My mind was racing and I guess I just couldn't make my mind multi-task enough to make my body react," she confessed, forcing her gaze to keep steady with his own. She had to see his reaction to this.

"That's not all is it?" he asked softly and Mitchie found herself cursing him and his ability to read her like an open book. He wasn't going to make this thing easy on her at all.

"There is also the possibility that I was terrified that I would do something wrong. I mean I have no previous experience and I really didn't know what to do. But...my lips were moving right?"

"Very enthusiastically," he supplied and she felt her blush rising yet again.

"Did you really think that it was amazing?" she asked for what had to be the fifth time in the past thirty minutes. She knew that it probably sounded pathetic but she really wanted to make sure that he'd liked it and now that she was looking into Shane's eyes she'd be able to see the truth. If he could read her like an open book then she could do the same to him. So she looked and was ultimately surprised to see the sincerity in his eyes as he gazed into her own.

"Mitch...how many times do I have to tell you that I loved it?" he asked and she felt her blush deepen once more at the words. She had to be the shade of a strawberry right now as he just smiled at her and squeezed her hand.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I mean you know I'm not the most confident in the world..." she trailed off when he chuckled and squeezed her hand another time.

"Yes I know and we're changing that," he told her pointedly. "And just to reassure you I loved it," he said with his oh so charming smile of his. She felt her hear swell at the smile and as she heard his words she felt her confidence rise just a bit. Though she was having trouble believing it Shane hadn't lied to her yet. He'd liked the kiss, really liked it, and that was making her want to jump for joy.

"But you want to know a secret?" he asked softly and she nodded quickly, her curiosity peaking at his question.

"So you were worried about me not liking it right?" he asked and she nodded, confused but willing to play along with his game.

"Well funny thing is that I was worried about you liking it at the same time," he confessed and Mitchie felt her heart literally stop at his words. Shane Grey, the most amazing kisser that she was sure ever existed had been worried about her liking his kiss? She would laugh about it if she wasn't so surprised. He honestly couldn't be serious about that could he? He had to know that he was an amazing kisser; he had to know that she'd loved it.

"You've got to be kidding me," she said aloud as she looked at him and saw the absolute serious look on his face. Mitchie honestly couldn't believe that he'd been concerned about her liking it, in fact if she wasn't so shocked in this moment Mitchie was fairly certain that she'd be laughing. It was so like Shane, to be worried about her when he didn't have to be. In fact at this moment Mitchie felt like their roles were reversing from what they had been just a few minutes ago, he was the one worrying and she was the one who was going to have to do the reassuring.

"Well I'm not," Shane told her pointedly, looking into her eyes to convey his message.

"I'm absolutely serious. I mean Mitch it wasn't just any old kiss, it was your first kiss. My mind was blown away by the fact that you'd trust me enough to give that to you and I was terrified that you were going to hate it. I didn't want to ruin your impression about what a kiss should be," he explained softly and Mitchie felt her heart melting.

He really knew how to make her feel like the most important person in the entire world and the best part about it was that she knew he was being completely serious. Shane wouldn't lie to her. That was one thing she could be sure of right now even when her feelings were going a mile a minute inside her head and heart.

"Mitchie?" She was snapped out of her thoughts by Shane's soft voice and she felt herself smiling again when her gaze met his. He looked absolutely adorable right now with his eyes full of worry and his lips still swollen from their kiss. It made her smile and before she could even stop to think about it Mitchie was gently removing her hand from Shane's grasp and bringing her arms up and wrapping them around his neck. She was surprised by this burst of forwardness, but Shane was entirely to adorable for his own good, she couldn't help but want to be as close to him as possible. To feel that this was indeed real and that she was the one experiencing it.

Shane seemed to want the same thing as she did as well because the second her arms went up and around his went down to wrap around her waist. Together they managed to get as close to each other as possible; Mitchie was pulled almost flush against his chest and Shane had moved his forehead to rest against hers. For a few seconds the both of them did nothing more than stare at each other and Mitchie was perfectly ok with that because she could literally get lost in his eyes and be happy for the rest of her life. She was sure of it. But of course something like that couldn't happen because the very moment she ended that thought Shane opened his mouth to say something.

Mitchie knew what he was going to do; he was going to once again ask her if she was ok and Mitchie really didn't want to hear it again. That kind of question would only ruin the mood they'd just started to set up in the room and between them. She couldn't let that happen, no, in fact she decided that she wasn't going to let it. Once more a surprising burst of confidence was taking over and Mitchie couldn't be more grateful for it than at this moment. Taking one deep breath she quickly used the hands around Shane's neck to pull his face towards her own. She leaned upwards the very second she did that and prayed that she was doing this the right way just moments before she touched her lips to Shane's.

She felt him freeze and she paused, trying to let him accept the fact that she'd really just attached her lips to his. To be honest, she had to take a moment to accept what was happening as well because this was so unlike her. It was that exact reason that she only let herself pause for a few moments before tentatively moving her lips against his. If she thought about this too much she would pull away, and if she pulled away she would have to stop kissing Shane. That was an alternate ending that she didn't want happening at all.

She let her lips move against his, and surprisingly this time, Shane's lips moved with hers. Actually, if she were being completely honest Shane was the one following her. He moved to the slow, tentative pace she'd set up for herself, let his hands grip her hips in time with their lips but other than that he didn't do anything. She had a feeling it was because he was trying his best to not freak her out and to help her get over the many fears she had about doing this. But for the moment Mitchie pushed those kinds of thoughts out of her head and let herself live in the moment. She was kissing the guy she really liked, really kissing him, and she wasn't about to screw the opportunity up.

Mitchie let her instincts guide her for the moment and gradually let herself speed up the pace of the kiss she was now controlling. She inwardly squealed when Shane all too willingly responded with a tightened grip on her hips and instantly felt her hands leaving the back of his neck to thread into his hair. She tensed for a moment when he groaned into her mouth but the very second Shane sucked her bottom lip between his own and gently nipped at the skin with his teeth. Mitchie felt herself gasp into his mouth at the very foreign action but she found that she really enjoyed it. In fact, when Shane repeated the action against her lips Mitchie could barely choke back the moan of delight threatening to escape her lips. Her hands gripped his hair in that moment and if it was at all possible, her body pressed against his even more closely.

Mitchie didn't want this glorious feeling to ever end, she would be content to die like this, her lips on Shane's with their bodies basically molded together. Yes, this was heaven right now. Sadly, Mitchie knew that they were going to have to leave this kind of bliss very soon because of the ever present need to breathe making itself known in her body. Her body would make her pull away from Shane's soon enough and while it was for a good reason, Mitchie wanted to tell her respiratory system to go to hell. She didn't, no instead all Mitchie did was sigh against Shane's lips before slowly disengaging herself from their passionate kissing spree. Her gaze immediately shot to Shane's to find that his eyes were considerably darker but a smile was gracing his features as his heavy breaths seemed to mix with her own. Without saying a word he pressed his forehead to her own and reached up to gently pull her hands from his hair and intertwine them with his own as he brought them down to their sides. She couldn't help but smile back at him when he leaned down and pressed his swollen lips to her cheek before taking them to her ear.

"Now that was amazing," he murmured softly, his breathing still shallow from the make-out session they'd just ended. Mitchie couldn't help but shiver as she listened to him breathe against her and as she felt him rest his cheek against hers.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, silence overtaking them once more as she let a peace that she hadn't known existed wash over her as her breathing slowed at the exact same pace as his. If she hadn't been so happy she might have laughed at the fact that they even kept that on a beat, their love of music shining through even in the most intimate of moments.

Mitchie wanted to stay like this for forever, in Shane's arms, close to him, but she knew that she couldn't. As much as she hated to, she needed to talk to Shane. More so than she had before because they'd just kissed a lot and she wasn't about to just kiss someone and have it just be that. She may be shy and timid, but Shane made her different with him and she knew what she wanted now in regards to him.

"Shane," she murmured, nudging her cheek against his before slowly pulling away from him. She couldn't stop the smile that crept upon her face when she saw the soft smile gracing his still swollen lips. She was almost scared to say anything to him, to ruin the moment but she had to if they were going to make any progress in the whole talk they had started before the make-out session. She took one deep breath and then let herself talk, all the while telling herself that she really had to do it this time.

"Shane," she said again, and his expression changed as he shifted beside her, his eyes staring into hers, his gaze becoming alert at the shift in her tone of voice.

"What's up Mitch?" he asked softly.

"I...well...Shane I want to know what we are," she said slowly. "Because I just kissed you and I know I'm not very experienced in this whole thing but I think I know myself well enough to say that I don't just kiss random people. And Shane well, I like you and I think you like me to and by like you I mean as more than a friend and I know it's crazy because we've only known each other for like a day but I-"

Mitchie stopped when she felt a finger being pressed to her lips and she breathed a sigh of relief against it. As much as she knew that their talk had to happen she hadn't planned on the rambling she'd started upon speaking. Her rambling that would have been impossible to stop without the intervention of one Shane Grey, the boy that was currently laughing beside her.

She paused as she realized exactly what he was doing and almost instantly felt anger surge within her. She may have been rambling but she'd been trying to get somewhere with this entire situation and she'd been pouring her heart out. Now Shane was lying beside her, finger pressed to her lips and laughing at her?

Slowly she brought her hand up to her mouth and removed his finger from her lips which allowed Shane to roll onto his back beside her, laughter and all as she glared at him. She stared at him for all of two seconds before she made a decision that involved her hand making a sharp contact with his chest.

"OW!" She smirked when she heard the exclamation and then she even giggled when she watched Shane put a hand to the middle of his chest and glare at her.

"What in god's name did you do that for woman?" he exclaimed and she just glared right back at him, matching his stare.

"Because you're laughing at me you jerk," she told him. "I'm trying to figure out where we're at and spilling my guts and you're laughing at me," she told him, her glare intensifying when his glare dropped off and he started chuckling again. "Stop laughing at me! It's not funny jerk face."

He stopped laughing at her use of the word jerk face and looked at her for all of three seconds.

"Did you seriously just call me a jerk face?" he asked incredulously and she nodded to his statement.

"Yes I did because you're being one," she huffed and he chuckled once more, holding up a hand in mock surrender when she raised her hand again.

"Calm down woman, don't hit me again," he pleaded. "I promise I wasn't laughing at you. I was just….do you know you're really cute when you ramble?" he asked and she raised an eyebrow at the statement.

"What?" she asked slowly.

"I said you're really cute when you start rambling. I know that laughing was probably a bad idea but I just couldn't resist. You were talking one minute and then going on and on and then I stopped you and then I just couldn't resist. You were just...really cute," he finished up quickly, once more holding up a hand in defense. "Please don't hit me," he said once more. "Please."

Mitchie glanced at the raised hand beside her for a second and reluctantly dropped it. Despite the fact that she was still slightly perturbed with Shane, she couldn't deny that he'd just said something really sweet to her. She wouldn't hit him for that, she couldn't hit him for that, but she could still most definitely be mad at him.

"I won't hit you," she said softly. "But I'm still annoyed. You shouldn't have started laughing at me."

"I know. Bad timing, I'm sorry," he told her and she couldn't deny the sincerity in his voice.

"It's ok," she replied. "I forgive you, I think," she told him and she watched his nose wrinkle at the words.

"You think?" he asked and she nodded. "Well thinking is not good enough," he declared. "I need you to be sure that you forgive me," he told her softly.

"Shane I'm not sure that you can-" Once more Mitchie found herself being cut off but this time it wasn't from a finger to the lips, it was another set of lips crashing onto her own. She felt her eyes open wide in shock for a moment at the sudden contact before quickly closing them when Shane's lips moved against her own. He didn't kiss her for very long, but his lips most definitely did the job they were aiming for; leaving her breathless and wanting more the moment he pulled away and flopped back down beside her.

"Forgive me now?" he asked with a smirk and she would have smacked him if she wasn't so giddy from kissing him.

"I think I can do that," she responded after a moment with a silly grin on her face.

"Thought so," he replied with a smile and she rolled her eyes as he reached out and tugged her body downwards. Almost instinctively she cuddled into his chest, her head resting there as her right hand found his and intertwined their fingers without thinking about it. They laid there for a few minutes in comfortable silence before Mitchie decided that she really did want some answers in regards to what she and Shane were now that they were well, doing things like this.

"Shane, she murmured, picking her head up to look into his eyes once more. "What are we?" she asked softly. "I can't just kiss you and now know and I don't think I can just be your friend anymore," she confessed quietly.

"Good," he answered quickly, causing her to look at him in surprise.

"What?" she asked softly and he smiled, giving her hand a squeeze in the process.

"It's a good thing Mitch, promise," he said softly. "Because I feel the same way. I can't just be friends with you after kissing you. I want to be more than a friend to you after kissing you. I want to be something more," he told her. "Actually I've wanted to be something more since I heard you singing Mitchie. You're...different," he said quietly. "A good different," he almost immediately amended. "You get me like no-one else and I meant every word of what I said earlier, you've got me going crazy. But it's this wonderful kind of crazy."

"Really?" she asked, not able to stop the giddy feeling rising in her heart at the smile on his face. She was really positively certain that Shane Grey liked her now. Really liked her for her and she liked him for him. He wanted to be more than friends like she did.

"So what are we?" she asked again, needing to hear the exact words from his mouth before she did anything else. "Because I feel the same way about you Shane. You get me; no-one has ever gotten me like you before. I want...well I want to know what you want us to be."

"We're more than friends. In fact I'm kind of hoping you'll agree to maybe being well, my girlfriend?" he asked timidly. "I mean I know we haven't even been on a date yet and I have no right to ask you to be exclusive but I think we could be good together. And I know I'm older than you but I promise my intentions are honorable and I will be a complete gentlemen. You deserve that."

She giggled at his rant but appreciated it at the same time. While the age thing didn't bother her she needed to know that he was going to respect her wishes and it seemed like he was going to when she said yes to him. Yes, the word had a new meaning for her because she was most definitely going to accept his offer of being the girlfriend. She knew it was early in their relationship but he made a point and she had a feeling that when you were involved with a Pop Star it was either all or nothing because of the lifestyle he led.

"Yes," she responded quietly. "I'd like to be your girlfriend Shane."

"Really?" he asked and she laughed at the outright shock on his face.

"Yes you loser. Don't look like you're going to have a heart attack, I'm sure about this," she told him softly. "I like you. A lot. And I want to try this out. So let's see where it gets us?"

"I like the way you think," he murmured. "I promise you won't regret giving me a chance Mitch."

"I don't think I will. I believe in you," she told him quietly, heart nearly bursting at the smile on his face. She loved that she was making him happy right now.

"So...we're together?" he asked slowly, as though he were trying to process the actuality of their conversation.

"Looks that way," she said with a laugh.

"So that means if I wanted to kiss my girlfriend again I could?"

"Oh I think you'd better," she ordered him and he chuckled before sliding down once more to her level and gently settling his lips on hers. Mitchie reveled in the feeling of his lips on hers once more, she couldn't believe that a feeling like this is what she'd been missing out on this entire time but she was glad that she was experiencing it now. In fact she had decided that she would be quite content to engage in another make-out session with her new boyfriend but that thought was quickly thrown out the window when she heard someone clearing their throat from somewhere behind her.

Mitchie panicked and almost immediately pulled her mouth away from Shane's and shot up from their current position on her bed, ignoring the sharp pain in her ankle that came along with the sudden action. Her eyes snapped towards the door and she paled when she saw her mother standing there holding a tray of what looked to be food and a very amused expression on her face.

"Umm…hi mom," she said weakly. Mitchie really didn't know what else to say as she watched her mother's amused gaze shift from her to the boy that was now sitting beside her. Shane's hand was currently on her lower back, rubbing slow circles, trying to soothe her racing nerves as he did so.

"Hi Connie." At Shane's nonchalant tone Mitchie felt her gaze whipping around to him and he simply met her panicked expression with a smile. "Calm down," he murmured into her ear and Mitchie couldn't quite stop the shivers that raced down her spine when she felt his warm breath brush against her throat. Despite the fact that her mother was less than one hundred feet away from her Shane still had the ability to send butterflies fluttering down her spine.

"Mitchie, Shane," her mother's voice tore Mitchie's attention away from Shane and back towards the doorway where her mother was still situated in the doorway, a smile now present on her face as she started to walk towards them. "I hope you two don't mind but I wanted to check on Mitchie and bring you both some food."

"No, that's fine Connie, in fact, why don't I head outside for a few minutes and give you two a chance to talk?" Shane suggested, his lips making a quick contact with Mitchie's cheek before he got up and headed for the door.

"I'll be right back Mitch." She nodded at his statement and watched as he walked outside and sat down on the porch chair, phone in hand, obviously playing some sort of game within seconds of doing so. She almost laughed at the sight before quickly remembering that she was in a room with her mother. The mother who she loved dearly but it was also one who had just walked in on her kissing someone.

"So how's your ankle sweetie?" Mitchie felt her confusion spring up at the question and she watched as her mother set the tray she'd been carrying down on their dresser before walking over and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"What?" Mitchie asked slowly. Of all the questions she'd been expecting that had been the last one on her mind. She'd expected an interrogation on Shane, on what she'd been doing with Shane, but not a question about her sore ankle. The ankle she'd actually forgotten about because of Shane and his actions.

"I want to know how your ankle is, is it feeling better?" Connie asked softly.

"I-I think so. I mean I haven't really noticed it much. So yes...better. I feel better," Mitchie answered quickly, smiling when her mother breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well that's good. So Shane's been taking care of you?" Connie asked slowly and Mitchie immediately nodded. As much as she didn't want to talk about this, she knew that after what her mother had just witnessed she had to. No use in denying it now, mine as well convince Connie that it was a good thing to be Shane Grey's girlfriend.

"Yes m'am," she answered quickly. "He's been really good at helping me forget about the pain," she told her and watched as her mother smiled at her.

"That's good sweetie, I think he's good for you."

"Really?" Mitchie asked surprised when her mother nodded. "So what you just walked in on with the kissing and the being together…" she trailed off, watching as her mother chuckled and just nodded her head again.

"I'll be honest; walking in on my baby girl kissing a boy she has feelings for was a little unnerving but I'm ok with it. Shane and I talked when he came to get the ice earlier and I think we understand each other," Connie told her daughter slowly. "I know he has feelings for you sweetheart and I know you have those same feelings for him. I'm willing to let you two be together despite the age difference because I think he's good for you. He brings you out of your shell and if you trust him enough o be involved with a Pop Star than I trust him. I've also been assured by him that he will be nothing but a gentleman with you."

Mitchie looked at her mother in absolute shock for a few minutes. Never in a million years had she expected that kind of thing to come out of her mother's mouth. Not only was her mother ok with the fact that she liked someone, but she was supporting it? That was the most unexpected thing of the century but Mitchie had to admit it was nice and very much like her mother. Mitchie could barely contain the smile on her face as her brain finally let it all sink in. She was with Shane and her mother was ok with it. This was a miracle, one that she wasn't about to screw up.

"Mom I promise that he'll be a gentleman. I really care about him and he cares about me. He makes me happy."

"I know," Connie said with a smile. "And that's why I'm going to support this. I trust you and I'm going to trust Shane ok? All I want is for you to keep me in the loop."

Mitchie squealed in delight and immediately leaned forward to wrap her mother in a tight embrace.

"Thank you so much mom. I promise I'll tell you whatever you want to know. You won't regret this."

"I don't think I will. But the next time he's in the cabin I don't want to walk in on what I did a few minutes ago alright?"

Mitchie immediately nodded in agreement as she released her mother from her hold and leaned back against the headboard a smile gracing her features as her mother just grinned and got up from her spot on the bed in order to walk over to the dresser to get the food she'd brought with her.

"I hope you're hungry sweetie."

"Of course mom, what's for lunch?"

"Burgers and fries, simple and easy," Connie replied with a grin as she walked over and carefully set the tray down across her daughters lap.

"Mom it looks great thanks. For everything," Mitchie said, watching her mother smile at her before enveloping her in another hug across the tray.

"Anytime sweetie," Connie murmured in her ear before pulling away. "I just want you to be happy. It's my job as a mom."

"Well you're doing a good job," Mitchie whispered, planting a kiss on her mother's cheek before pulling away and settling herself back against the headboard of her bed. She winced just slightly as she moved her ankle but shrugged it off. She didn't want her mother worrying about something that really was starting to feel better.

Was her ankle still throbbing? Yes. But it was definitely down to a dull throb and she didn't want to give her mother reason to doubt the fact that she was getting better. If she wanted out of this room by tomorrow than she had to show that she could take this.

"I'm certainly trying," her mother said with a grin. "Now how about we get Shane back in here so you two can eat before this food gets cold?" She asked, turning towards the door, laughing when she saw Shane already standing in the doorway a smile on his face.

"Eavesdropping Pop Star?" She asked with a giggle as his eyes widened and he immediately began shaking his head no.

"N-no," he responded shakily, taking a step into the room. "I just happened to hear my name and the mention of eating and being a teenage boy...food is good," he reasoned as she just laughed and motion for him to come forward as her mother stood up and made a b-line for the doorway.

"Alright I have to head back to the kitchens to start on dinner so I'll leave you two to your own devices. Shane if you come back to the kitchens at around six, I'll have some dinner ready for you two."

"Mom you don't have to do that, I'm sure I can walk over and-" Mitchie stopped her speech midway at the incredulous looks she got from not only her, but Shane as well. "What?" she asked quietly, crossing her arms over her chest in the process.

"Mitchie you can't possibly think that you're going to walk over there tonight," Connie told her with a hard look. "I want you to stay in here for the rest of the day, rest and get your ankle better. So as your mother I'm asking you to stay here tonight, eat in here with Shane and relax so you can go to your classes tomorrow alright?"

"I agree with your mom on this one Mitch," Shane said before she could even respond to her mother's statement. "I know you haven't been talking about the ankle because of well...what we've been doing but I know it's still hurting. Don't think I didn't see that wince earlier." At his reprimand Mitchie felt her face flush and she immediately brought her gaze away from his own, attempting to hide the fact that she knew that Shane and her mother were right.

"Fine," she mumbled reluctantly after a few short moments of silence. She forced her gaze back to the two people standing before and saw them both smiling at her answer. "But I can go to my classes and stuff tomorrow right? I don't like being cooped up in here."

"Yes you can go out tomorrow," Connie said with a smile. "I promise. But for tonight let me not worry about you hurting yourself even more alright?"

"Yes m'am," Mitchie replied with a smile before pointing towards the door. "Now go. I know you have work to do and Shane's here, he'll amuse me."

"Alright, you two be good."

"We will Connie," Shane replied with a smile. "I promise I'll keep her stationary and I also promise that...well...what you walked in on earlier won't happen again."

Mitchie giggled at the embarrassed tone of his voice and then she laughed at the expression that crossed her mothers.

"I trust it won't Shane. Again, I trust the both of you in this as long as you keep me in the loop," Connie reiterated, satisfied when she got eager nods from the two teens.

"We will mom, promise. Love you," Mitchie replied with a smile as her mother mouthed the words back before heading out, leaving her and Shane alone once more.

She looked at him at the same time he looked at her, and for a few minutes there was nothing but silence between the two until Shane started chuckling. His chuckling turned into a full on laugh at the very second she started laughing and for a few moments the two of them did nothing except laugh until tears were practically rolling down their cheeks.

"Ok so t-that was awkward," Shane managed to choke out. "I thought I was going to have a heart attack when she walked in."

"You thought you were going to have a heart attack?" Mitchie asked incredulously from her spot on her bed. "That was my mother and she walked in on us…that can never happen again," she told him.

"I completely agree," Shane responded. "We need to be more alert from now on because I fully intend on kissing you more."

"Oh really Mr. Grey?" she asked with a raised eyebrow and a laugh as he simply nodded.

"Oh yes, but before we do anything like that…can we eat? I'm starving and your mom is a really good cook." Mitchie laughed at the pleading tone of voice he used and the look on his face as he stared at the food in front of her.

"Come sit down Pop Star and eating can definitely happen. Maybe we could count this as a date?" She asked hopefully watching him as he smiled at the words.

"I think I would love for this to be a date Ms. Torres," he replied, sending a shiver down her spine as he walked over to the other side of the bed, sat down, and kissed her cheek before going for the food before them.

XXXXXXXXXX

**AN: Sooo what did you think? I hope you enjoyed it. Oh and did anyone else get their JB world tour tickets? If so…let me know where in a pm or something..maybe we'll be at the same show? **

**Also shameless promotion for a new fic..I did that ten truth of life challenge thing and if you could check out the story that would be great. **

**As always leave your thoughts please. Reviews really do make me smile.**


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